This Hyper World!

by ToraLikesPuppies

Summary:

Tony Stark is many things. He's a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. A father is not one of those things. Now? he doesn't really get a choice.

Notes:

• Inspired by [Restricted Work] by inkinmyheartandonthepage (Log in to access.)

Chapter 1: Tony Stark is now a father

Notes:

also inspired by "i know that you got daddy issues (and I do too) :https://archiveofourown.org/works/65386429/chapters/168260194 by "Iamnotmentallystable" (same btw!)

the main inspo is locked so only registered uses can view it, so sorry about that.

Tony Stark was many things. A father is not one of them. 

 

At least that’s what he tells himself. The hospital that called him says the kid is his. Confirmed with a dna test and everything. The mother died in childbirth, and there's the sad thing. The mother had a living relative. Keyword: had. They died a month before the child was born, now Tony is the only living relative for the child. He thought about putting the child up for adoption, but his best friend Rhodey shut that down quickly. If he was anything like his father, he would be a genius. The woman was also under the same category, he didn’t know that at the time though. She apparently was a leading researcher in cancer research. Not anymore, cause she’s dead now.

 

Something he feels awful for on top of everything. She never told him about the child, even after he wanted to ‘catch up’ as he called it. She never did accept that however, now he knows why. She was carrying his kid, and didn’t want to freak him out. Good that did right? He’s freaking out right now. He decided he would take this child, and no one will know about him save for very few people. People he actually trusts. At the hospital he had the staff sign NDAs, no one was to mention anything about this unless he makes a public statement in the future and even then they probably won’t anyway. He doubts he’ll make any public statement though. He also named Rhodey the kid’s godfather. Rhodey’s Mom also came with, she naturally filled the roll of God.. grandmother? It’d be easier to call her the grandmother in all honesty. And Rhodey just.. Uncle? Happy also came with, being his personal body guard. He wasn’t known for liking kids, but he’d have to make an exception. 

 

They were surprised when he told them Stane can’t know about the child. Who he still has yet to come up with a name for. They understood that Stane is a bit much and likely would rather have Tony give the kid up. Kids are distractions and Stane can’t have Tony distracted. Stane was already upset he was locked out of the workshop at the Malibu home and any workshop Tony worked at. Stane can deal with it. The kid was small, he also had heterochromia. Like his mother, something he actually remembered about her, and why he wanted to ‘catch up’. Her eyes were beautiful, and he has inherited that. The left was green, while the right was blue. 

 

He settled on a name, Peter Anthony Stark. His mother’s name was Mary, he had to honor the woman somehow and this is how. Maybe if he decides the public is worthy of knowing of his existence, he would make a foundation as well. The obvious choice would be to help her life’s work. Cancer research. He’d come up with stuff later. Rhodey liked it, but also knew he had picked that order so it would be PAS. He didn’t deny it, he knew he’d get bullied about it if someone found out. Then those bullies will get a stern talking to by his uncle, and Rhodey rolled his eyes. He still had a smile on his face.

 

They took him back to Malibu. One of the guest rooms that were never used would be converted into his room. He was glad it was sort of out of the way, not near the master bedroom, but still close by. JARVIS ordered new furnishings for a nursery, it would arrive in a few hours. While the kid was asleep, also hooked a security panel onto the door. Normally, it wouldn’t be necessary. All the bedrooms could be locked down and this would help with that. He opted also to make it so only Tony, Rhodey or Happy could enter the room. Biometric locks and codes, along with overrides in case of emergencies. JARVIS also was updated to give any alert on the baby. Rhodey demanded it be called the Baby Monitor Protocol . Tony agreed , albeit reluctantly. He also had Peter in the system as Underoos . Flagged as a higher priority than himself, and the doors would only open if the threat was neutralized (killed) and with at least 2 clearance codes from the 3. It’d help if there was a 4th option, but for now it’d have to do. A few days later the room was a high tech nursery. Luckily Happy was convinced to stay at the house for the first few years. Till he was at least old enough to talk, and could ask JARVIS for stuff instead. School was another issue. He wanted this kid to have a normal life. Perhaps a fake name? Peter Anthony Parker would be his cover. Any teachers would sign NDAs and what not. He likely wouldn’t go to the school, and just have Happy pick him up instead.

Either way, Tony would burn the world for this kid. He knew it now. He refused to be like his own father. Distant, cold, unloving. No. He would tell this kid he loved him everyday for the rest of his life. He started this tradition after the nursery was complete. JARVIS would remind him as well, in case he forgot. Something he hoped he would never do. Maybe that should indicate to him he is a father. He’d drop the playboy title now, but wouldn’t squash anything indicating he did. 

The first few years were fine. Peter was 4 now, and would start school soon. He couldn’t think about that right now. Tony was more impressed that this receptionist informed him that he’d make a mistake.

 

“What do you mean?” He questioned her, holding his hand out to stop Happy from dragging her away.

 

“In this statement, you added a few extra zeros. Would've cost the company thousands.” She explained. She said it with fire, with confidence. He liked that.

 

“I see, Well thank you Pepper.” 

 

“It’s Virginia.” She started walking away.

 

“Wait.” He demanded, she stopped and turned around. “Where do you work?”

 

“I’m just a receptionist.” She said curiously 

 

“Yeah. Not anymore.” He stated

 

“What? Are you firin-”

 

“Nope. You’re my new personal assistant.” He interrupted her

 

“No.” She said, exasperated.

 

“No?”

 

“No! Everyone- Everyone knows you sleep with every PA.”

 

“No I don’t.” He shrugged.  “They just say that after quitting. They hardly stick around for a week before quitting. No one has the guts to come in here and say I made a mistake.” He pointed at her “You did, I need you. I don’t care what anyone says. You ignore them, it’s not their business.” 

 

“I’ll… Think about it.” 

 

“You can make me get things done. Expect an email.” He shrugged and sat back down. She left after that. Happy was upset. Then he explained why he needed her. “She would’ve had this in her hands for a few seconds. Tops. I noticed the error and decided to inform me. She said it would cost the company thousands. But looking at it again, it's more like millions. We’d have to let people go. Families would lose a good source of income. It’d be a domino effect. I might get kicked off the board for such a mistake, and lose my rights as CEO.” He explained. “She saved the company, possibly hundreds of families and me. Tell me you aren’t a little impressed?” 

 

Happy sighed, “Okay yeah, I’m impressed. Still, are you sure about her being your PA?”

 

“I need her. She saw an error, and opted to go directly to the source. She could’ve gone to her boss, she chose a direct approach.” He looked impressed, and maybe Happy was a little too. Tony started sending forms for her to sign the next day. He constantly bugged her for about a month straight before she finally agreed. She got into the job easily, making him do stuff he normally wouldn’t do. Like going to meetings. He wasn’t always on time, but he at least started to show up now. He informed her that it was a win. She said it would be if he got there on time. Like she set a goal or something. A thing to strive for, get Tony to a meeting on time. Seems like a big ask, but eventually it might happen. 

Tony Stark is many things, a father now appears to be one of them. His son will start school soon, and he is terrified. Terrified that if the world knew of him, they would hurt him. Or use him to hurt Tony. He settled on a cover name, Peter Anthony Parker. Happy, Rhodey and himself are listed as emergency contacts. The school can’t say anything. Agreeing to sign NDAs, a whole process he didn’t want to do. He did it anyway, for his son is everything to him. Weird right? 

 

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t realise it at the time, but he was slowly pushing his own son out of his life. He didn’t notice, no one really did. He still cared, sure, but it wasn’t the same. He spiraled. Reminders of his father, what he was told. How he acted, how he perceived himself shifted. He never noticed. Something he’ll regret later. Rhodey was busy on missions, Happy couldn’t stay around much. Tony? He was losing focus, Obediah was trying to get him back to work. He didn’t know how long it’d last. 

Years later, Peter is 7 years old. His dad is THE Tony Stark. A very busy man. Peter knows that of course. His “friends” don’t know about Tony Stark. Why would they? He is a multibillionaire that makes weapons for a living. The only mentions of him are of his grandfather, Howard Stark who only comes up in his history class. (Boring!) It is his worst subject after all. Why bother with the past? Even then, it's very briefly brought up. Kids learning about WWII is probably not a good thing in 2nd grade after all. Either way, Peter is bored. School is boring. Life is also boring. His dad doesn’t show up often anymore. Only Uncle Happy. Happy is a very unhappy man. Which he guesses the name is chosen by his dad for irony’s sake and nothing more. Uncle Rhodey comes by sometimes too. He is cooler than Happy, as he tends to take him for ice cream or donuts. Rhodey makes him try a new flavor every time they get ice cream, in hopes he will abandon his favorite, mint chocolate chip. Everytime they get donuts, he always asks if they have made a mint chocolate chip yet. The answer is always no, because people are cowards. 

 

He doesn’t call people cowards of course, that would be rude. He does say it to his Uncle Rhodey every time though. Who always laughs and agrees. He suspects he doesn’t actually agree, but loves the joke instead. Maybe when he is older he will open his own donut shop and make it himself. He tells Rhodey this, who laughs and says he’d make his dad proud and his grandfather pissed. That makes him giggle, because everything he’s heard about his granddad makes him upset. He’s glad he’s never met him. He may be smart, but going to MIT at 14? Not something he wants to do. He likes going through every grade, even if he knows everything already…. Expect english and history. But history is dumb, and English is.. Well he speaks it! Why must he learn about it? Whatever. Rhodey helped him learn Spanish (enough to understand it at least) and some Italian, he can understand some of it and make basic conversation. He was hoping to learn the rest from his dad, but he is busy so Rhodey helps him whenever he comes over.

 

Speaking of, Rhodey was supposed to pick him up today. Instead it was Uncle Happy. “Wheres Uncle Rhodey?” He asked with a frown on his face. “I wanted ice cream today. He said he’d make me try pistachio.”

 

He got a raised eyebrow from the rearview mirror. “Rhodey had some sh- stuff to do with your dad today. He was waiting at the airport for nearly 2 hours.”

 

“When will he learn to get the schedule from Auntie Pep? He gives him the wrong time all the time!” He giggled.

 

“Does he really?” 

 

“Yeah, but you can’t tell him!” He laughed. “Its supposed to be funny. That’s what dad says anyway.”

 

“Alright. I get it. Anyway we can get Ice cream real quick. Then I’ll get your dad and we’ll come home.” Happy gave a smirk in the rearview mirror, then changed course toward the ice cream shop on the way home. Peter frowns when he spots the Mansion. He remembers seeing a lady talking to Auntie Pep. 

 

“You must be the famous Pepper Potts.” 

 

“Indeed I am.” She smiled.

 

 “After all these years Tony still has you pick up dry cleaning.”

 

“I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including occasionally taking out the trash. Will that be all?” She gave her signature fake smile. The one given to every lady like this along with angry execs and military personnel (never rhodey though) He remembers laughing when that lady got in the car.

 

“That is the best one yet, Auntie Pepper!” He informed her. 

 

“It was, wasn't it?” She smiled. “Come on, your dad was waiting to say bye before he left.”

 

“Okay!”

 

When they got home, he had finished his cone and left to find his dad. He assumed he’d be in his workshop, but he saw Pepper on the couch, her eyes were red. Her face is puffy. Not a good sign.

 

“Auntie Pep? What’s wrong?”

 

She was startled, but still spoke up. “Your uh, your dad is missing. He was taken today in Afghanistan.” She was still crying a bit. Peter didn’t know what to do. How to react, he simply shut down. He doesn’t even remember Pepper calling for him before he hit the floor.

Notes:

The original work that inspired this work "Baby Onboard" has Peter being Tony's kid, while also having spider powers. However; I opted to have him get them still yes, but in a probably different way, while still leading up to a scene that'll likely play similarly to the main inspo. with changes so it's not just a direct rip off.

This is my take on a Peter Stark AU and I hope you enjoy. I have said in other works of mine that I was working on one for a while. I was having trouble with a name and just chose one of my favorite songs from "Lemon Demon" so that's a big reason why it took so long. Yes, this will have an eventual Harry/Peter romance, it won't be for a while. But it's one of the big relationships for the work, so it's in the tags.

How far will this fic go? I don't know yet. My current notes have it at Civil war area, but I will likely add onto it later. So we'll see I guess.

I do hope you enjoy this fic. It's a fun trope to do I think. I've seen a lot of them and I've always wanted to do one myself. Now is my chance!

Also: I've designated this reality as 720, if you're at all curious. If you've read my notes in another work be scared! :)

Anyway, leave feedback in the comments. It's always appreciated.

Chapter 2: 3 Months later.

Dad was missing for almost 3 months now. Uncle Happy had moved me to his house, as Stane was constantly visiting Auntie Pepper. He never liked “Uncle” Stane all that much. He just had felt off. He could never place why. He also suspects that he is why Dad was getting distant lately. Being forced to work and what not. He frowned at that thought. He thought  that no one could get dad to do anything he didn’t want to do, so why did he let Uncle Stane do that. Sure he wasn’t allowed out of his room while he was, but he could hear him when he asked JARVIS to know what they were talking about.

 

He was in school right now, his teacher going over some multiplication. He was bored of that. He had just done an introduction into calculus with his dad before he got kidnapped. His teachers are upset that he wasn’t paying attention, but they understand. They know he isn’t Peter Parker, which he loves and hates. Parker was the last name of his mom. He didn’t know much about her, Dad didn’t let him know much about her. He knew she had a brother, but that was when he asked JARVIS about her. Apparently dad had no clue about that. Maybe he could convince J to contact them? He doubts Uncle Happy would be okay with that.

 

Speaking of, Happy was picking him up today. And school is almost over, so hopefully they can get some ice cream or something. Maybe burgers? He thought about asking for some on the way home. On his way toward parent pick up, he saw the car. He was surprised when he saw Pepper standing there. He ran up to her and gave her a hug. “Auntie Pepper!” He said excitedly. “You never pick me up! Unless daddy is in trouble!” He frowned. “Is he-?”

 

“He’s fine, promise. Come on.” She smiled. She helped him up (damn his short legs) and got in the passenger seat. “Alright let’s go.” She instructed Happy, who was driving. He nodded and started driving off. He was brought to a military base, they parked for a moment and this huge plane came down, skidding to a stop along the runway. Happy drove up closer to it, parked again and started getting out. “You.” Pepper got his attention. “Stay here.” she instructed. I nodded and she got out.

 

The ramp lowered, dad was in a wheelchair, Uncle Rhodey had helped him up and walked him down. After he got in the car, he sat in the back, and hugged him tight. “I thought about you everyday, bambino. You kept me going, had to get back to you.” he told me, he kissed the top of my head.

 

“Where to sir?”

 

“The hospital please, Happy.” Pepper instructed.

 

“No.” Dad said quickly.

 

“No?” Pepper turned around to stare at him. “Tony you have to. The doctor has to look at you.”

 

“I don’t have to do anything. I’ve been in captivity for three months. There are three things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, to give bambino here like a million hugs-”

“Daaad!” I groaned, embarrassed.

 

“-and the other-”

 

“That’s enough of that.” Pepper shook her head.

 

“-Is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now.”

 

“Call for a press conference? What on Earth for?” 

 

“Hogan. Drive. Cheeseburger first.” He ignored her. I wonder if he is okay. The drive was boring. He didn’t answer any questions from either of them. Only when we stopped for cheeseburgers did he answer, with his order. He ate in silence as we continued toward the main office. I’ve never been here so it did look cool, at least. I saw Obadiah standing out there, waiting for dad most likely. “Of course he is here.” He grumbled to himself.

 

“Tony!” He said excitedly. As he gave a hug. “We were going to meet at the hospital.”

 

“No, I’m fine.” He waved them off. Pepper got out and walked over toward my side. She opened the door and I stepped out. She crouched down to get on my level.

 

“Stick close to me? Alright?” Her voice was soft, but her tone didn’t leave room for argument.

 

“Okay.” I nodded. She took my hand to hold onto. We followed Dad and Obadiah into the conference area. It was held in the lobby. She sighed as she watched them both weave through the crowd. I could tell it was of relief, at least.

 

“Ms Potts?” Someone asked from her side. 

 

“Yes?” She said looking over to him.

 

“Can I speak to you for a moment?” He looked suspicious. No idea how. 

 

“I’m not part of the press conference, but it’s about to begin right now.” 

 

“I’m not a reporter. I’m Agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.”

 

“That’s quite a mouthful.” I told him. “You should work on that.”

 

“I know. We’re working on it.” He smiled down at me.

 

“You know we’ve been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA-”

 

“We’re a separate division with a more specific focus. We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape.” He explained, handing her a card.

 

“I’ll put something in the book, shall I?” She smiled, one that was either annoyed or interested. I couldn't quite tell yet.

 

“Thank you.” He had a genuine smile. “Who’s this?”

 

“Oh! That’s-”

“I’m Peter, Mr. Coulson.” I explained happily. Sometimes it’s fun to mess with Auntie Pepper, dad is right.

 

“Peter, honey, we don’t go telling strangers our names.” She frowned. Mr. Coulson walked away after that.

 

“Sorry aunt Pepper.” I frowned. “Dad said it's fun to mess with you, only sometimes though. You didn’t hear it from me!”

 

“Of course, sweetie.” She shook her head.

 

“What did he get you?” I asked her, but she had started to sit, along with everyone else in the room. I looked over confused.

 

Uncle Rhodey walked over to join us. “What’s up with the love-in?” He asked curiously. 

 

“Don’t look at me. I don't know what he’s up to.” She explained.

 

Dad started talking. He mumbled something to Obadiah, then loudly to everyone else. “I never got to say goodbye to my father-” I looked up at him, and saw him looking at me. “There’s questions that I would have asked him. I would ask him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability.” There were some people in the front that raised their hands. He pointed at someone.

 

“What happened over there?” he asked.

 

“I had my eyes opened.” He said standing up. “I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be-” he was interrupted by everyone standing up and asking questions. He started walking through the crowd.

-30 minutes after the conference…

 

Dad went off somewhere, and Aunt Pepper drove me home. The house was the same as when I left it. I thought as we were walking inside. Aunt Pepper opened the door, ignoring her phone that was blowing up in her pockets. As we stepped inside, JARVIS greeted us. “ Good afternoon, Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark .” His voice rang out. I smiled, and looked up at the ceiling.

 

“Hi Uncle J!”

 

“Hello, Jarvis.”

 

“ The news of the shut down of the weapons division, has certainly made- ”

 

“Jarvis, I’d rather not right now.” Pepper sighed.

 

“ Of course, Ms. Potts. ” 

 

“Come on!” I said, dragging her toward the couch. 

 

“What?” 

 

“We’re gonna watch something. Duh.” I explained, as we sat down. “Dad said he hates watching them. Uncle J?”

 

“ Bringing up a nature documentary playlist. Shall we begin where you left off? ”

 

“WE! Uncle J! We!”

 

“ Forgive me sir, where we left off. ”

 

“Tony hates watching… nature documentaries?”

 

“Not really! He just says that. I know he does like watching them, just with me. But at Uncle Happy’s house I was watching some while he- JARVIS watched them with me when Happy couldn’t be home.” I shrugged.

 

“Okay. Which one is this?”

 

“It’s about meerkats!”

-Later that night…

“ Stark Industries! I got one recommendation. Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells? Let me show ya, the new Stark Industries business plan! Look, that's a weapons company that doesn’t make weapons!! ” So glad the kid was at school right now, couldn’t have him watch this crap.

“ How big are your hands? ” Tony’s voice came through the tablet next to me.

 

“What?” I asked, muting the tv audio.

 

“ How big are your hands? ”

 

“I don’t understand why-”

 

“ Get down here I need you .” he instructed. I sighed, placed the laptop on the coffee table and headed down into the lab. I saw him leaning back on a chair, his shirt off and wires hooked up to him. He was holding a glowing thing, staring at me. I entered the code to enter. “Hey. Let's see ‘em. Show me your hands. Oh wow they are small. Very petite, indeed. I just need your uh help for a sec.”

 

“Oh god is that thing keeping you alive?”

 

“It was. It is now an antique.” He held up the other glowing thing. “This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I’m swapping it out for an upgraded unit and I just ran into a little speed bump.”

 

“Speed bump? What does that mean?”

 

“It’s nothing. There’s an exposed wire under this device. And it’s contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It’s fine.” He yanked the thing out of his chest.

 

“What do you want me to do?”

 

“Put that over there it is irrelevant. I want you to reach in and you’re just gonna gently lift the wire out.”

 

“Is it safe?” I asked nervously.

 

“Yeah. it’s like Operation. you just don’t let it touch the socket wall or it goes beep.” he explained gesturing at the metal in his chest.

 

“What do you- what’s Operation ?”

“It’s just a game, never mind. Just gently lift the wire.”

 

“I don’t think I’m qualified to do this.” I retracted my hand.

 

“No, you’re fine. You’re the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I’ve ever met. You’re gonna do great. Why else do you think I trust you with Peter? You’re gonna do great.”

 

“Okay, okay… oh god there’s pus!”

 

“It’s not pus. It’s an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body.”

 

“It smells!”

 

“Yeah it does. Copper wire. The copper wire you got it? Don’t let it- AH!” don’t let it touch you when you’re coming up.”

 

“Sorry, I’m sorry!”

 

“Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don’-t there’s a magnet at the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out. Don't put it back in!”

 

“What’s wrong?” 

 

“Nothing, I’m just going into cardiac arrest ‘cause you yanked it out like a trout-”

“What! I thought you said this was safe!’

 

“We gotta hurry. Take this. You gotta switch it out really quick.”

 

“Tony? It’s going to be okay, okay?” I followed his instructions and connected everything, eventually he was able to adjust it himself. “Don’t ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again.”

 

“But I don’t have anyone but you?” we stared at each other for a bit. “Unless you want bambino to do that? I feel like he’d panic then get an asthma attack then-”

 

“Okay! Okay!” I sighed. “What do you want me to do with… this?” I said holding the old device.

 

“That? Destroy it. Incinerate it.”

 

“You don’t want to keep it?”

 

“Pepper, I’ve been called many things. Nostalgic is not one of them.”

 

“Will that be all, Mr. Stark?”

 

“That will be all, Ms. Potts.” he turned to one of his robots. “Hey, butterfingers, come here. What’s all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That’s my phone, that’s a picture of my dad. All that right there is garbage.” he explained. I started walking off. An idea came to me. 

-The next day…

Dad never takes me anywhere, but when he pulled me out of school, requesting help on a project I figured it must be important. We went to where Uncle Rhodey was working. He wanted to get him on the project too, so it must be extra important!

 

“-in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot’s instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome or a pilot’s judgement.”

 

“Colonel? Why not a pilot without a plane?” Dad called out to him. We were holding hands as we walked around. I was looking around at all the planes.

 

“Look who fell out of the sky. Mr. Tony Stark.”

 

“Speaking of manned or unmanned, you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong at spring break. Just remember that, spring break 1987. That lovely lady you woke up with, what was his name?” He said and I giggled.

 

“Don’t do that, they’ll believe you. Give us a couple of minutes.” He said to the guys. “I’m surprised, I swear I didn’t expect to see you walking around so soon. Good to see you, Pete.” I waved at him.

 

“I’m doing a little better than walking. Rhodey, I’m- we’re working on something big. We came to talk to you. We want you to be a part of it.” 

 

“You’re about to make a whole lot of people around here really happy. ‘Cause that little stunt at the press conference, that was a doozy.”

 

“This is not for the military. I’m not- It's different.”

 

“What? You’re a humanitarian now or something?” he frowned.

 

“I need you to listen to me.”

 

“No, what you need is time to get your mind right.” He sounded upset. “I’m serious. It’s nice seeing you, Tony, Peter.”

 

“Come by sometime Uncle Rhodey!” I called toward him, as he walked off. He then turned around, still walking away saying he would. “That sucked.” 

 

“Yeah, bambino. It did. C’mon, buddy, we don’t need him for this.” He smiled, picking me up and holding me by his hips.

 

“Can we get ice cream?” 

 

“Of course, what kind?” 

 

“Well Uncle Rhodey wanted me to try a new flavor this time! But I like mint chocolate chip!

 

“Well, it sounds like we’re getting mint chocolate chip.”

Notes:

I return, with a new chapter for you guys.

Sorry for the longish wait. I have other works to write and stuff, but I'm just not feeling up for updating them right now. So I opted to update this one instead, as it's one I'm more interested in writing currently. I feel bad about it, which is dumb. Either way, it's the case, for now.

If you're wondering: Yes, Tony kept Peter hidden from Obadiah for years. He's paranoid. he didn't want anything to happen to him, so yeah.
Mary is born a Parker, Richard doesn't exist in this AU. Her brother is Ben, who hasn't heard from her in years. Last he knows is that she was in Cali doing research on cancer treatments. This will come up again in the next chapter I think, Peter curious about his mom. JARVIS isn't allowed to talk about her. He basically only says "She loved you a lot." and nothing else.

So yeah, eventually May and Ben will show up. just figured I'd say.

Hope you enjoyed!

Chapter 3: Fire Extinguishers, Flight Stabilizers and a bizarre dream.

Back in the garage, dad had set me down on his chair as he powered up his holomat. A mat he rolled across a desk that was cleared off. He started first by drawing up the schematics of some armor, it looked like. It looked very bulky. “JARVIS you up?

 

“ For you, sirs, always. ”

 

“I’d like to open a new project file, indexed as Mark II.” He explained before selecting the armor and with a stylist and dragging it over to the holomat.

 

“ Shall I store this on the Stark Industries Central Database? ”

 

“I actually don’t know who to trust right now. Until further notice why don’t we keep everything on my private server.” He walked over to examine the now 3d projected schematic. I got up and looked at it in awe.

 

“ Working on a secret project, are we, sir?

 

“What is it?” I asked him as he messed with the projection.

 

“It’s armor.” He smiled. “I don’t want this winding up in the wrong hands. Maybe in mine it could actually do some good.” He worked on the blueprint for about an hour, some boots with a thruster on the bottom. He had me assemble some one while he and DUM-E worked on another. I was a little upset that I didn’t get DUM-E, but it’s okay. He was using a soldering iron as he made adjustments. He was arguing with him as he messed with it more. 

 

“Dad?” 

 

“Yeah, underoos?” he asked, not looking up.

 

I smiled at the nickname. “I finished mine, you got to make the final adjustments though.”

 

“Can’t you?” He said looking up finally.

 

“Yeah, but Auntie Pepper said and I quote; He is forbidden from using the soldering iron until you are at least 16 or I will have your dad’s head. Cause I burnt my hand that one time, remember?”

 

“You are so right. Leave it there. I’ll be over in a second.”

DUM-E was on extinguisher duty, U was recording, and I was standing on the other side of the garage, to watch from afar. “Okay, let’s do this right. Start mark half a meter, and back and center. Dummy look alive, and stand by for fire safety. U, roll it. Okay. Activate hand controls. We’re gonna start off nice and easy. We’re gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift. And 3, 2, 1.” he was shot upside down hitting part of the wall leading up to the ceiling. He then promptly fell down onto the ground and groaned up in pain.

 

“DAD!” I said running over toward him. DUM-E sprayed at him with the fire extinguisher. I burst into laughter when he did.

 

“My own son, laughing at my misery!” Dad groaned from the ground.

We started working on flight stabilizers after that. They were to go around his arms. Unfortunately I couldn’t help with this one, since it required an adult’s arm. I could at least help with some of the stuff, like handing him tools. Eventually Pepper came down. “I’ve been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?”

 

“Yeah everythings- what?”

 

“Obadiah is upstairs. What would you like me to tell him?”

 

“Great, great, I’ll be right up.” he lifted the arm off where it was being held up.

 

“I thought you said you were done making weapons?” Pepper asked him.

 

“It is-”

“It’s a flight stabilizer!” I explained excitedly, running up to stand next to her.

 

“It’s completely harmless.” He followed up. He pressed a button to power it up. It shot out a powerful blast knocking him over. Pepper quickly covered me with her body. “I didn’t expect that.”

 

“Get that off.” She instructed. “Then upstairs, both of you.”

 

“Yes Aunt Pepper!” I smiled.

I followed dad upstairs, and heard the piano being played. I thought that was weird, auntie Pepper didn’t play anymore, maybe she would like to again. “How it’d go?” Dad asked as we approached the living room. Obadiah glanced up at him then at me. “It went that bad, huh?” 

 

“Just because I brought pizza from New York doesn’t it mean it went bad. It would have been better if you were there.” He said as he finished playing. Dad handed me a slice.

 

“Uh-uh. You told me to lay low. That’s what I've been doing.” he said between bites. “I lay low, and you take care of all…” he trailed off and wiped his mouth.

 

“Come on. In public. The press. This was a board of directors meeting.” he explained walking over and sitting next to him. I had found myself next to Auntie Pepper, not really trusting him.

 

“This was- This was a board of directors meeting?”

 

“The board is claiming you have posttraumatic stress. They’re filling an injunction.” He explained with a frown.

 

“A what?”

 

“They want to lock you out.”

 

‘Why ‘cause the stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was gonna happen.”

 

“Fifty-six and a half.” Pepper corrected.

 

Dad turned to her, upset. “It doesn’t matter. We own the controlling interest in the company.”

 

“Tony, the board has rights too. They’re making the case that you and your new direction aren't in the company’s best interest.”

 

“I’m being responsible! That’s a new direction for me, for the company. I mean, me on the company’s behalf being responsible for the way that- This is great.” he said, grabbing the pizza and standing up to leave.

 

“Oh come on. Tony. Tony.”

 

“I’ll be in the shop.”

 

“Hey, hey! Hey Tony. Listen. I’m trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them. Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs.” He chased after him.

 

“No.”

 

“It’ll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!”

 

“No. No, absolutely not. This one stays with me. That’s it, Obie. Forget it.”

 

“Well this stays with me then. Go on, take a piece.” He offered by opening up the box.

 

“Thank you.” he said, grabbing a piece and walking off. 

 

“Do you mind if I come down there and see what you’re doing?” He called after him.

 

“Goodnight Obie.”

 

He turned to look at me. I frowned. “So… what's your name?”

 

“Um.” I looked over at Pepper.

 

“He’s none of your concern, Obadiah.” She said sternly, knowing full well I didn’t trust him much. “C’mon. It’s way past your bedtime.” She grabbed my hand, and led me upstairs.

School was boring, as usual, Dad worked on his project for a bit without me. He said he didn’t want to, but I should stay in school still. Education is important to him. At least I learn some stuff. Like History, English or Music. Stuff I don’t really know about all that much. The only real free time I got was during math time. I was above basically everyone there. At a college level, or was it university? Maybe I’d ask Uncle Happy later. I was heading to the parent drop off/pick up. I saw the familiar car that Uncle Happy uses. Something not fancy, but it was “discrete” as he called it. I’m sure it’s armored, knowing dad. I opened the door and slid inside. “Hi Uncle Happy!”

 

“Hey, kid.” He greeted me. “Put your seat belt on.”

 

“I always do! You know that.”

 

“Just making sure.” He smiled at me from the rear view mirror. 

 

“So… did you know my mom had a brother?” I asked, staring out the window.

 

He spat out his coffee. “What?”

 

“Yeah! I asked Uncle J about her. He didn’t say much, just that she loved me. So I asked if she had any family besides us. He said to give him a moment, then that she has a brother.”

 

“Why did- what?”

 

“Well cause dad never talked about her before. I wanted to know more.” I shrugged.

 

He sighed. “I didn’t know she had a brother, no. What’s his name?”

 

“J said it was Benjamin Franklin Parker.” I explained. “J also said he has a wife, Maybelle Isabella Parker. Do you think dad would be up for meeting them?”

 

“Maybe some day. We’ll see.” He smiled. We drove in silence for a bit, before ending up at the house again. Where he walked me inside. He said that he had some other stuff to do before leaving. I walked up to my room and put my bag in there before heading down stairs to the kitchen. I looked around for snacks for a bit, before finding something. I went back up to my room to eat while I did school work. I fell asleep soon after.

The sky was bright blue, I was sitting outside by the pool. Mom was talking to Uncle Obie. He was comforting her, ensuring that they would find him soon. He said she should go lay down, clear her head. He walked her upstairs and I knew he’d come to suggest the same soon. I watched them go upstairs and wondered if dad was okay. I turned around and a man with a metal arm was standing in front of me. “Who-” was all I could say before he bolted toward me and covered my mouth with his metal hand, a cloth pressed against my face. I tried screaming, but before I knew it everything went black.

“The Soldier retrieved the asset. No one knew he was gone. Stane gave the perfect window of opportunity as promised.”

 

“Yes, now all he has to do is hold his end of the bargain.”

 

“Of course, now we agreed with Stane that we’d deal with it.”

 

“He assumed we would kill and dispose of the body still?”

 

“We used a drug that slowed his vitals enough so he’d appear dead. He will wake up soon… in fact” that person splashed water on my face. “He appears to be awake now…. Did they complete the assignment?”

 

“Yes. We motivated Dr. Parker to speed up the process. It’ll be here in a few days. It’s already headed toward us.”

 

“Good. Soon we will have the ultimate weapon. Begin the process.”

 

“Sir? The body is too weak to begin a process like tha-” a gunshot rang out along with a thud.

 

“I said begin the process.”

 

“Harpy. You and I both know he will die in this process. Let it arrive first. It’ll ensure he will survive… that is if he survives it.”

 

“Fine.”

I groaned as I sat up. What was that? A bizarre dream? Weird. I pulled the covers off and started heading down stairs for a glass of water. I heard a crash and turned around to see a hole in the roof… and floor. I ran over to the hole, cause I’m a Stark and that’s a smart thing to do. Run to the new hole in your floor. I saw DUM-E spraying something down with his fire extinguisher. “Oh my god! Dad?!” I yelled out and ran downstairs. 

As he got out of his “high tech prosthesis” I went upstairs to get him an icepack, per his request. He wandered back to his desk, and saw the box that Auntie Pepper brought him earlier… like 11 days ago. He set the coffee down. About to walk off and drink it before he saw the note. He opened it and it was the old ARC, in a glass case. With an inscription. Proof Tony Stark has a heart I smiled at it. “I figured she would do something like that.”

 

“Yeah? What are you doing up, anyway?”

 

“It's hard to stay asleep when there is a man in a tin can falling through the floor… and roof.” I shrugged.

 

“Fair point. C’mon need your help with something.” He walked back over toward his desk. Pulling up the data for his high tech prosthesis . “Notes. Main transducer feels sluggish at plus 40 altitude. Hull pressurization is problematic. I’m thinking icing is the probable factor.”

 

“ A very astute observation, sir. Perhaps if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the ecosystems. ”

 

“Connect to the SYS. CO. reconfigure the shell metals. Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite-”

 

“That’ll ensure the fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio!” I interrupted excitedly.

 

“Yeah, it will.” He smiled.

 

“ Shall I render using the proposed specifications? ”

 

“Yeah J!”

 

He grinned at me. “You heard the boss.”

 

“ Of course. ”

 

“ Tonight’s red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall, where Tony Stark’s third annual benefit for the Firefighter’s Family Fund has become the place for L.A’s high society.” the tv was on in the background.

 

“JARVIS we get an invite for that?” He asked, looking over at the TV.

 

“ I have no record of an invitation, sir .”

 

“Hasn’t been seen in public since his bizarre and highly controversial press conference. Some claim he’s suffering from posttraumatic stress and has been bedridden for weeks. Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from him tonight.”

 

“You are going aren’t you?”

 

“You know me, Stark. Gotta make an entrance.”

 

“ The render is complete. ” JARVIS interrupted. We looked at the screen together. He raised his eyebrow at me.

 

“Uncle J?”

 

“ Yes, sir ?” I looked around for some inspiration. Before spotting the car Dad was working in the morning before he got kidnapped. I smirked.

 

“Throw some hot-rod red in there.” I suggested. Dad ruffled my hair.

 

“ Yes, that should help your father keep a low profile .” JARVIS said, and if he could have sarcasm, this statement would be drowned in it. “ The render is complete. ”

 

“Hey, I like it. Fabricate it. Paint it.” 

 

“ Commencing automated assembly. The estimated completion time is five hours .”

 

“Don’t wait up for me, honey.” Dad said standing up. “C’mon underoos. We got a party to crash.”

 

“Can you even do that at your own party?” I asked curiously as I followed him. He barked out a laugh at that.

Notes:

Hello. I hope you enjoyed.

So a thing with my stories that I do is add stuff from other works into them. The idea came mostly from the movie Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness, where it's said that dreams are a way to see other multiverses. I'm writing with the idea that the the multiverse is a thing now, and the whole TVA situation from LOKI S2 is over or w/e. (Finally watched that a few weeks ago btw, very cool.) So, in this "dream" this Peter sees another Peter, specifically the one from my other work "Spider in Solace" when he first got kidnapped. Cause I never wrote about it before, and thought it'd be fun.

So, I do you enjoyed, and are looking forward to the next chapter.

I think I said last chapter that I'm taking a break from my other works, but I will say it again here. just in case you didn't see.

Chapter 4: My Dad is Iron Man

Of course, dad drove the most expansive, loud car ever to the party. He had me sit behind him. We talked about school a bit, what I liked, what I disliked. He laughed when I said math, cause I knew everything already. And laughed louder when I was bored in the history segments cause I didn’t really care about them all that much. He said that he wants to move to New York  eventually, and make the home in Malibu a vacation home instead. I shrugged, saying it could be interesting. He said he wanted to reopen the expo some day. I beamed at that, and the look in his eyes said he should do it sooner than he thought he would. As we pulled up to the venue. He parked in the street, a valet stepped out toward the back of the car. Before he got out, he looked at me in the rear-view mirror. “Stick with me. Got it?”

 

“Got it.” I nodded. He winked at me and stepped out. Opening his car door. Closing it and stepping toward my door. Opening it too. The valet nodded at us, he looked excited at driving a sports car, or whatever this car was. Tony snapped his fingers and patted his thigh. A single to take his hand and not let go. The crowd hadn’t noticed us yet. I stuck as close as I could. The crowd started freaking out as we walked passed. Dad had a confidence I could never have as he just ignored the small crowd. 

 

“Hey, Tony, remember me?” some lady asked.

 

“Sure don’t.” he said and just strutted past like he didn’t just insult this poor woman. At least it wasn’t as bad as the lady Auntie Pepper said she was just taking out the trash for dad. I remember she was livid at that. Eventually he walked up to Obidiah. “What’s the world coming to when we gotta crash our own party?” he frowned.

 

He laughed, one that had a hint of bitterness and annoyance. Odd. “Look at you. Hey what a surprise.”

 

“We’ll see you inside.”

 

“Hey. Listen. Take it slow, all right? I think I got the board right where we want ‘em.”

 

“You got it. Just cabin fever. I’ll just be a minute.” I would roll my eyes at what Obidiah said, but dad dragged me off and inside. I didn’t get much of a chance to look around before we headed to the bar. “Give me a sprite. I’m starving.” I let out a breath I didn’t realise I was holding. Afraid he’d start drinking again. He looked at me. “Never again, I promised. Remember?”

 

I nodded. “I want a sprite too please!”

 

“Mr. Stark?” The agent guy from a place with too long a name was here too. Convenient.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Agent Coulson.”

 

“Oh yeah, yeah yeah. The guy from the uh-”

 

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

 

“You need a new name for that.” I informed him, again.

 

“Yeah, I hear that a lot. Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There’s still a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a factor with these things. Let’s just put something on the books. How about the 24th at 7:00 p.m. at Stark Industries.” 

 

Dad held his hand out. “Tell you what. You got it. You’re absolutely right. Well, uh- I’m going to go to my assistant and we’ll make a date.” I rolled my eyes, he didn’t hear him at all. We walked over toward Auntie Pepper. “You look fantastic! I didn’t recognize you.”

 

She turned around startled. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Avoding government agents.” I smirked at him. She smiled at me.

 

“Where did you get the dress?” He asked, ignoring me.

 

“Oh. It was a birthday present.” She said sarcastically.

 

“It’s great.”

 

“From you, actually.”

 

“Well I got great taste.” He replied, equally sarcastic. I glanced between them.

 

“You guys should dance.” I said, feeling a mischievous mood. They both turned to stare at me. Both spouting nonsense replies. Before I rolled my eyes. “Well, then let’s dance then. Auntie Pepper.” she sighed and took my hand. Dad followed us, a smirk on his face. As we stopped I accidentally shoved her a bit so dad would catch her and they started dancing. I stuck close by, amused.

 

“Am I making you uncomfortable?”

 

“No. No. I always forget to wear deodorant and dance with my boss. i n front of everyone that I work with in a dress with no back.” she said nervously.

 

“You look great and you smell great.”

 

“Oh god.” she complained.

 

“But I could fire you if that would take the edge off.”

 

“I- I actually don’t think that you could tie your shoes without me.” She stated, and I had to agree with her.

 

“I’d make it a week.” I snorted at that.

 

“Really? What’s your social security number?”

 

“Five.”

 

“Five?” I laughed.

 

“You’re missing a couple of digits there.” Pepper rolled her eyes.

 

“Yeah, the other eight.”

 

“I got her for the other eight.” He shrugged. They danced for another minute before I even felt the uncomfortable tension. “How about a little air?”

 

“Yes, I need some air.” She cleared her throat. We walked out onto the balcony. “That was totally weird.”

 

“Totally harmless.”

“It was totally not harmless, by the way.”

 

He shrugged. “We’re dancing. No one’s even watching.”

 

“Everybody who I work with- no, you know why?”

 

“I think you lost objectivity. I think they just- people- we just danced.”

 

“No! It was not just a dance. You don’t understand because you’re you. And everybody knows exactly who you are, and how you ar- were with girls and all of that, which is completely fine. But, you know, then me, you’re my boss, and I’m dancing with you-” She rambled.

 

“I don’t think it was taken that way.”

 

“-Because it makes me look like the one who’s trying to, you know-”

 

“I just think you’re overstating it.”

 

“-and we’re here, and then I’m wearing this ridiculous dress, and then we were dancing like that and-” she stopped and they stared at each other a bit longer. They leaned closer together, I blushed and looked away. “I would like a drink, please.” I looked back toward them. They hadn’t, which made me frown.

 

“Got it. Okay.”

 

“I would like a vod- a virginia martini, please.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Very dry with olives, a lot of olives. Like at least three olives.” She explained. He nodded and walked back inside. “You.” She addressed me. I looked up at her.

 

“Yes, auntie?” I smiled shyly.

 

“Don’t.” She sighed. “You are a mischievous little gremlin, you know that?”

 

“What ever do you mean?”

 

“Oh god. You’re gonna grow up, and you’re gonna be getting into all sorts of trouble aren't you?” she groaned, rubbing her face.

 

“C’mon. At least I’d be better than him at my age, right?”

 

“Yes. but worse in a different way, I just know it.” She smiled.

 

“Sorry in advance if that’s the case, Auntie.” 

 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Mr. Stark.” She winked. “Go make sure your dad isn’t getting into trouble. And sweetie? Sorry about uh, wanting alcohol. It slipped my mind.”

 

“It’s okay.” I smiled. “I’ll go find him.” I nodded. I walked back into the building, and saw him talking to the woman Auntie Pepper passive aggressively called trash. I smirked to myself. “Time to take out the trash.” I saw him holding some photos, going through them he looked up at her, some frustration in his face. Not at her, at what she showed him. I frowned more as he stormed out. I headed back toward Pepper instead.

 

The door opened and she turned around, expecting dad too, but frowned when I wasn’t with him. “Where’s-”

 

“The trash lady-”

 

“Trash lady?”

“You told her you take out the trash for dad.” I explained quickly. She rolled her eyes. “She came by and showed him some photos. He had an angry look on his face before storming off somewhere.” 

 

“ Of course he did .” she muttered. “C’mon sweetie. Let’s get you home.” she said, holding out her hand. I took it and we headed home, in her car. When we got there, he wasn’t home. She frowned. “I’m sure he’ll be back in the morning.”

 

“Okay.” I frowned at the empty garage. “Oh! Tell um Dr. Scotts my inhaler is running low, please.”

 

“Yes, of course. I’ll call him right now.” She nodded, pulling out her phone. “Sleep, don’t pull a Tony and stay awake all night please.” I nodded and headed upstairs.

In the morning I followed Pepper down into the garage. We stopped to gawk at the many arms surrounding dad, and pulling off his high tech prosthesis . Jarvis was telling him to hold still. “What’s going on here?” 

 

“Let’s face it. This is not the worst thing you’ve caught me doing.”

 

“Are those bullet holes?”

 

“ High tech prosthesis huh?” I said sarcastically, the same time Pepper asked if they were bullet holes.

 

“No-”

 

“Don’t lie!” She demanded.

 

“C’mon, dad. She isn’t dumb.” I agreed with her sentiment.

 

“Fine, yes they are bullet holes.” he sighed.

After about an hour of arguing, Pepper and I went upstairs, ate dinner and went to sleep. In the morning, I got ready for the day, and since it was the weekend I headed downstairs to find Pepper making some breakfast. She handed me French Toast, and we ate at the kitchen island together. She turned to look at the piano, or rather where the piano used to be, and frowned. I looked over to where she was looking. “Oh yeah, he dropped through the roof and into the garage.” I explained. She sighed, shaking her head. “Wonder what he’s up to now?”

 

We walked down stairs to see him messing with the suit. He looked up when he saw us. “Hey. Are you busy? Mind if I send you guys on an errand? You’re going to hack into the mainframe and you’re going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests. This is a lock chip. This’ll get you in. It’s probably under executive files. If not, they probably put on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading.”

 

“And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?” she frowned.

 

“Same drill. They’ve been dealing under the table, and I’m going to stop them. I’m going to find my weapons and destroy them.”

 

“Tony.” She scoffed. “You know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you’re going to start all of this again.”

 

“There is nothing except this. There’s no art opening. There is no benefit. There is nothing to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else.” He stated, angrily. I frowned at him.

 

“Is that so? Well, then, I quit.” She said tossing the lock chip onto the desk. I agreed with her. I didn’t want to watch him do this.

 

“You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that I’m trying to protect the people that I put in harm’s way, you’re going to walk out?”

 

“You’re going to kill yourself, Dad.” I said hotly, tears forming in my eyes.

 

Pepper pointed at me. “Exactly. I’m not going to be a part of this.”

 

“I shouldn’t be alive, unless it was for a reason.” he said sitting down. “I’m not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it’s right.”

 

She sighed, and walked back toward the desk. Picking up the lock chip. “You’re all I have, too, you know.” 

 

“Please be careful, dad.” I said following her.

 

“I promise, bambino.” He yelled after me.

We exited the elevator and headed toward Obadiah's office. She opened the door and closed it quietly behind her as I stepped in. I headed over to the computer. And turned it on. She sat in the chair, and plugged the chip in. It briefly flashed WARNING!: Security Breach. Before going away and opening up. It scanned the files before stating it found a ghost drive. It pulled up a few folders. It showed a few files. The Jericho missiles, and shipping manifests. Then it brought up Sector 16 . It looked like a bigger version of dad’s suit. “Sector 16?” She muttered. “What are you up to Obadiah?”

 

“I knew something was off about him.” I frowned.

 

“I always thought so-” we were interrupted by a video playing. It was a group of men holding guns with a guy that had a bag over his head in the center. They pulled off the bag, it was dad! I gasped slightly, while Pepper typed in a command to translate.

 

“You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark. As you can see, Obadiah Stane, your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up."

 

Pepper typed in a command to copy everything. “So, what are we going to do about this?” A voice called out toward us. It was him, Stane. Great. I sat up on the desk. “Hmm? I know what you’re going through, Pepper.” he said coldly. He pulled out a flask. I frowned at it. “Ah, Tony. He always gets the good stuff, doesn’t he.” he smiled, sniffing at the flask. As he poured, Pepper hid the chip and hit the screensaver. “I was so happy when he came home. It was like he came back from the dead.” cause he did, asshole . I thought bitterly. “Now I realize… Well, Tony never really did come home, did he? He left a part of himself in that cave. Breaks my heart.”

 

“Well, he’s a complicated person. He’s been through a lot. I think he’ll be all right.”

 

“You are a very rare woman. Tony doesn’t know how lucky he is.” 

 

“Thank you. Thanks.” She exhaled. And started getting up. “We’d better get back there.” She said, grabbing the newspaper and the chip.

 

“Is that today's paper?”

 

“Yes.” She answered.

 

He walked over holding out his hand. “Do you mind?”

 

“Not at all.”

 

“Puzzle.”

 

“Of course.” She smiled.

 

“Take care.” We hurried out of the room and back toward the elevator. We were walking down some stairs when someone called for her.

“Ms. Potts? Did you forget about our appointment?”

 

“Nope, right now. Come with me. We’re going to have it right now.” She said quickly. “Walk with me. I'm going to give you the meeting of your life.” She said nervously. In the car Mr. Coulson was asking questions. “Stane.” She interrupted. “Obadiah Stane, he ordered the hit on Tony.”

 

“I see. Anything else?”

 

“He’s building a suit. Somewhere in the ARC reactor building. Sector 16.” I explained.

 

“Okay. Got it. I’ll call for some backup, you get a hold of Mr. Stark and warn him.”

 

“Of course. Pete? You gotta call him.” she said reach backwards holding out her phone.

 

“Got it.” I dialed his number. Waiting for him to answer. “Dad? Hello? Are you there?” I frowned when the call was hung up. “He answered, then immediately hung up.”

 

“Great. Fantastic. “ She sighed.

I was looking around, my phone was ringing. I found it under some pillows, and I answered “ Dad? Dad are you there- ” I couldn’t respond, as a high-pitched sound rendered me paralyzed. Someone took the phone and hung up.

 

“Breathe. Easy, Easy.” Obadiah said, leaning me back on the couch. “You remember this one, right? It’s a shame the government didn’t approve it. There’s so many applications for causing short-term paralysis.” He grabbed my face to get him to look at him. “Ah, Tony. When I, uh, ordered the hit on you, I was worried that I was killing the golden goose-” He grabbed a device, probably designed to take the ARC out of my chest. “But, you see, it was just fate that you survived that.” The device clamped onto the arc and he started pulling it out. “You had one last golden egg to give.” He grinned at me. “Do you really think that just because you have an idea that it belongs to you? Your father helped give us the atomic bomb. Now what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?” He yanked out the rest of the ARC. “Oh it’s beautiful.” He examined it. “Oh, Tony, this is your Ninth Symphony.” he said sitting next to me. “Oh what a masterpiece, look at that. This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart. Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. The right hands.”

 

“Wish you could see my prototype. It’s not as conservative as yours.” He placed it into a case. “I have no idea how you’ve hidden a son from me for all these years. Maybe one day, I’ll tell him about you… when he’s run out of his usefulness as you have.” leave him alone you bastard. I’ll kill you! I screamed in my head. “Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this. I would have preferred that she lived.” He sighed and walked off.

“ What do you mean Obadiah paid to have your dad killed? Pete slow down- ”

 

“No you don’t understand! You have to go find dad!”

 

“ Where is he now? ” 

 

“I don’t know, he isn’t answering his phone. Please make sure he’s okay!”

 

“ Okay. I’m on my way now. ”

 

“Thanks Uncle Rhodey!” I handed the phone back to Pepper. 

 

“I know a shortcut.” She addressed the agents following us. “You. have someone keep an eye on him.”

 

“Of course, Ms. Potts.” He nodded and turned to an agent. “You. keep an eye on the kid. You lose sight of him for even a second you’re fired.”

 

“Yes, sir.” The agent nodded. 

In the elevator down into the workshop, I leaned against the wall. I stumbled over to the door, opening it. And fell onto the ground immediately. Shoving stuff out of the way. I used a box to try and reach for the case. But fell over immediately. I heard some beeping and looked over to see DUM-E had grabbed the case. I looked up at him, “Good boy.” And smashed the glass. I quickly got the arc reactor and stuffed it into my chest.

“Tony! You okay?” someone called out to me and pulled me over. It was Rhodey, thankfully.

 

“Where’s Pete? And Pepper?”

 

“They're fine. They're with five agents, about to agent Obadiah. 

 

“That’s not gonna be enough.” I said quickly. He helped me up.

We pulled into the parking lot in front of the ARC Reactor building. “Stay in the car!” Pepper yelled at me.” And getting out. The 4 other agents followed her inside.

 

“So, what do you do?” I asked hesitantly. The agent looked over at me, but ignored me. “I hope you know, I am sorry.” I sighed and pressed against his arm. A taser, like the ones clowns used, but actually meant to tase. Designed by dad and made to look like a watch. All I had to do was pull it down onto my hand, flip it around and press it against someone and it’d tase them instantly. “Sorry I got you fired!” I shouted as I closed the door. I placed the taserwatch against the security lock, and it fired it, letting me open the door. I ran inside after them. Looking around for Sector 16. I spotted it, the door already blown open.

 

“ Looks like you were right, he was building a suit. ” I heard one of them talking.

 

“ I thought it’d be bigger?” Pepper questioned. They spread out more. I was about to go inside, then I heard gunshots and explosions. And Started running away instead. Eventually Pepper caught up to me as I exited the building. “You were supposed to stay in the-” She was interrupted by her phone going off. “Tony! Tony, are you okay?’

 

“ I’m fine- how are -”

 

“Obadiah has gone insane! He’s built a suit-”

 

“ I know- listen, you better get out of there right now? You understand?” She turned around as the ground broke open and a giant suit came out of it. 

 

“Where do you think you’re going?” his voice echoed out. “Your services are no longer required.”

 

“STANE!” Dad’s voice yelled out. He turned toward it and opened fire. But he was slammed into and went back through the ground. We heard the fighting that continued. Before we saw the two of them started flying up toward the sky.

 

“Of course! The icing problem!”

 

“Icing problem?” Pepper looked over at me.

 

“Dad’s suit, it’s made of a gold-titanium alloy, the same used in the seraphim tactical satellite. His suit isn’t, so it’s gonna ice up.” I explained while looking up at them. “I don’t think it’s gonna be enough.” We saw them coming back down. Dad landed on the roof. 

 

“ Potts? ”

 

“Tony! Oh my god are you okay?”

 

“ I’m almost out of power. I’ve got to get out of this thing. ” another crash on the roof. “ Nice try! ” Obadiah’s voice rang out. I could hear the fighting up there.

“ Potts? ”

 

“Tony!?”

 

“ This isn’t working, we’re gonna have to overload the reactor and blast the roof. ”

“Well how are you gonna do that?”

 

“ You guys will have to do it. Underoos can show you how. When I get clear of the roof, you’re gonna hit the master bypass button. It’s gonna fry everything up here. ”

 

“Okay. C’mon kid.” She held my hand as we walked inside. “Walk me through it.”

 

Central console, open up all the circuits.” I explained. She handed me the phone as she started flipping the switches. “We’re doing it now.”

 

“ Okay, make sure I’m clear of the roof, first bambino. I can buy you sometime.” 

 

I heard something hit the glass and looked up to see dad up there. His crushed helmet landed next to him. 

 

“It’s ready Tony! Get off the roof!” Pepper yelled out. Bullets sprayed out at him, he used part of his suit to protect his head. He fell down and held onto part of the supports of the glass. “Tony!”

 

“DAD!”

 

“Pepper! Time to hit the button!” He yelled back down at us.

 

“You told me not to!”

 

“Just do it!”

 

“YOU”LL DIE!” I screamed at him.

 

“Push it!” He insisted. Pepper pressed it and a blast of the electricity shot outward. Pepper grabbed my hand and ran out of the building. I heard clanking as something big fell into the reactor. Following a giant explosion.

“ Iron Man . That’s kind of catchy, has a nice ring to it. Even if it’s not technically accurate. The suit’s made of a gold-titanium alloy. But it’s kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway.” Dad said, reading the newspaper.

 

“Here’s your alibi.” Mr. Coulson said, handing some cards. “You were on your yacht. We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night, and sworn statements from 50 of your guests.”

 

“See I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Pepper, me and bambino over there, alone on the island.” He suggested. Pepper ripped off a band aid, venting her frustration by doing so. I snorted at that.

 

“That’s what happened.” Mr. Coulson said toward the papers. “Just read it word for word.”

 

“There’s nothing on Stane here.”

“That’s being handled. He’s on vacation. Small aircraft have such a poor safety record.” He shrugged.

 

“But what about the whole cover story that it’s a bodyguard? He’s my- I mean, is that- that’s kind of flimsy, don’t you think?” He seemed put off by the idea.

 

“This isn’t my first rodeo, Mr. Stark. Just stick to the official statement and soon, this will all be behind you.” He turned toward the TV behind Pepper. “You’ve got 90 seconds.” then he started walking off.

 

“Oh Agent Coulson?” Pepper walked over to him. “I just wanted to say thank you for all your help.”

 

“That’s what we do. You’ll be hearing from us.”

 

I looked up asking, “From the Strategic Homeland and -”

 

“Just call us, SHIELD” he interrupted me, then walked away.

 

“Let’s get this show on the road.” Pepper said, grabbing dad’s suit jacket.

 

“You know, it’s actually not that bad. Even I don't think I’m Iron Man.” He said.

 

“You’re not Iron Man.” Pepper rolled her eyes.

 

“Alright, suit yourself.” He said with the cards in between his teeth. “You know, if I were Iron Man, I’d have this girlfriend and a son who knew my true identity. They’d be a wreck, constantly worrying that I was gonna die, yet so proud of the man I’d become. The girl would be wildly conflicted which would only make her more-” he cleared his throat. “Crazy about me. Tell me you never think about that night?”

 

“What night?”

 

“You know.” He smirked.

 

“Are you talking about the night you guys danced and went up to the roof, and then you went downstairs to get her a drink and left us there by ourselves?” I raised my eyebrow at him. 

 

“Mhm.”

 

“Thought so.” she said putting a handkerchief in his coat pocket. “Will that be all Mr. Stark?”

 

“Yes, that will be all Ms. Potts.”

 

“Get a room.” I said walking out. I found myself in the conference room, but not up at the stage. I saw Mr. Coulson was talking with someone, so I ‘wandered’ over to him. As I came up next to him, it looked like a red haired lady. “Hi, Mr. Coulson.”

 

He looked over at me. “Hello, Mister-”

 

“Oh! I, don’t call me that here.” I interrupted. “He doesn’t like the world knowing about me.” I explained.

 

“Understandable, given what happened, you know.” The red-haired lady said.

 

“Yeah. What’s your name?” I looked at her curiously. 

 

“You can call me Nat.” She smiled.

 

“No.”

 

“No?” Mr. Coulson and ‘Nat’ asked in unison.

 

“No. Dad raised me to be polite. It’s Mr. Coulson and?”

 

“Rushman.” She said quickly, a bit too quickly.

 

“Right, of course.. Ms. Rushman .” I examined her skeptically. 

 

“ Why do I feel like I’m failing a test?” She turned to ask Mr. Coulson in Russian.

 

“ Cause you currently are. ” I responded in Russian, a giant smirk on my face.

 

“ I’m sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that was a body guard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you- ” the reporter lady that Pepper addressed as trash was speaking again.

 

“Great. Can’t wait for Aunt Pepper to take out the trash again.” I mumbled to myself. Mr. Coulson snorted at that, and when I turned to look at them, Ms. Rushman was looking like she was trying hard not to laugh.

 

“ I know that it’s confusing. It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I’m a superhero. ” Dad interrupted.

 

“ I didn’t say you were a superhero .” 

 

“ Didn’t?Well, good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic ." He responded.

 

“Oh no.” I sighed.

 

“What?” Mr. Coulson asked quickly.

“ I’m just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public. ” He was stopped by Uncle Rhodey leaning over to his ear, probably telling him to stick to the cards. “ The truth is… that I would protect my son with my life, because I am Iron Man. ”

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed!

 

Did I portray Nat normally? no. I did not. She is gonna be the cool Aunt that lets Peter get away with stuff. (Eventually) so she is gonna end up having a soft spot for him. Does it matter really if she is "accurate" no. I like to think that Nat would actually be good with kids (just look at Clint's family in AoU) sure she would help them cause chaos, or w/e but ultimately still cares about them. So, yeah, Nat is gonna have a soft spot for Peter in this. (She just doesn't show it yet.)

 

Next chapter is an interlude thingy. It's sort of all over the place, so just be warned I guess. :D

Chapter 5: Interlude I: A Spider, and a new friend.

-1 month after Tony announced he was Iron Man

Dad announcing he was Iron Man was such a Tony Stark move. What I didn’t expect was the fact that he also announced that he had a SON. which was when Mr. Coulson and Ms. Rushman had quickly got me out of the room. Online, there was speculation about me EVERYWHERE. I was a bit overwhelmed at the idea. There were no pictures of me online anywhere, thankfully. Save for very blurry photos from when I was with dad when he first got back, or at the charity event. Basically all that was announced was the fact that I exist, which was weird. Happy started to bring me in through the garage at the Malibu house. It was certainly a change. I got my own Wikipedia page. It was basically empty, save for what was known about me. A speculation on my age (around 7-10) and that’s it. Dad avoided talking about me at anything public. He’d deflect with random facts about SI instead. Like that SI had started looking into upgrading the ARC reactors or something.

 

One thing he did was make a non profit foundation. He named it The Mary Stark Foundation which was something he wanted to do for a long time apparently. He talked about Mom finally. Her name was Mary Teresa Parker. She was a well respected scientist studying cancer, in hopes of finding a cure. He didn’t know much about her, just that she was a lead researcher in the field. He wanted to speak with her again, but she had always declined. He didn’t know why till.. Well I was born. 

 

According to the doctors, she said if anything happened, to call the father. That’s how he found out. Because she died, giving birth to me. “What happened?”

 

“Complications. They had to perform an emergency C-Section. She had asthma, like you do. During labor she started having an attack. They tried to save the both of you, but… Listen, bambino. Don’t blame yourself for this. It’s just a thing that happens, okay?”

 

“Okay.” I sniffled, as he pulled me into a hug.

 

“You have her eyes.” 

 

“You’ve said.” I smiled.

 

“I know.” He kissed the top of my head. “Tell you what. There’s this guy, he asked for some input on some stuff… I figured I’d go and see what’s up.”

“What’s his name?”

 

“Well you may have heard of him, it’s Bruce Banner-”

 

“Oh my god! You’re meeting THE Bruce Banner?!” 

 

“WE, bambino. WE are gonna meet him.”

 

“YES!” I cheered. “I have questions for him! I was trying to replicate the experiment he did in his Princeton paper.” I said quickly.

 

“Of course, you can ask him soon. We leave in the morning. We’ll be gone for the week.”

 

“What about school?” I frowned.

 

“You’re going on a vacation that has been planned for a few months.” He lied. “School knows who I remember? And they can’t say anything or I’ll sue them so hard they will have to demolish the school.”

 

“Please don’t demolish the school.” 

 

“Fine. But the entire faculty-”

 

“Dad!”

 

“Okay, okay.” He relented. “Let’s go pack!”

 

“Okay!”

-The next day…

The lab was amazing, I was looking around in awe, dad ruffled my hair. I attempted to duck out of the way, but he suddenly scooped me up and into his arms. I  giggled a bit as he brought me over to someone hunched over, looking into a microscope. THE Doctor Bruce Banner. I gasped when I saw him. Dad cleared his throat. 

 

He turned around suddenly, holding a hand to his chest. “Oh my god.” he breathed out. “Sorry I didn’t hear you come in.”

 

“Your assistant said you’d say that.”

 

“Sorry. Nice to finally meet you, Dr. Stark.” he held his hand out to shake.

“The pleasure is all mine, Dr Banner.” Dad shook his hand back. “This is my son. You are among the very few to know his face, and name.”

 

“Nice to meet you.”

“Dr. Banner!” I said excitedly. “Do you use the dual-core spectral analysis method to study adaptive biointerfaces in stress-reactive environments? Or did you swap for something else?”

 

“Oh no.” dad mumbled.

 

“What? That paper came out a few months ago.”

 

“It was so cool! I was reading it! Dad complained about it to Aunt Pepper for a few weeks. I convinced him to let me try it eventually.” I smiled.

 

“I’m impressed you understood it, what did you say your name was?”

“Peter.” Dad answered. “He had questions, I was hoping he would wait till after introductions.” 

 

“Sorry!” I apologized. “What are you working on now?”

 

“Oh, well I was working on some spiders over here.” He walked over to a terrarium. “It’s a sort of… I was attempting to merge all sorts of spiders into one. Right now this is the only one. The rest didn’t exactly… survive.”

 

“So cool.” I whispered as I stared at it.

 

“Yeah… don’t get too close. It’s radioactive.”

 

“What?” Dad turned to look at him.

 

“Awesome!” I said at the same time dad said what ?

 

“Yeah, the radiation turned out to help it… I don’t know, survive? I blasted the eggs with some varying radiations. This one is the only one to hatch.” He explained. “It’s very interesting, but unfortunately right now the spider isn’t much more than a side hobby. I managed to extract some venom, and got it being analyzed right now, but my main work is, well I’ll show you.” he said, leading us away.

 

“It’s an attempt at recreating the super soldier serum.” Dad said observing the machine.

 

“Yes. The formula I think is close, but I mostly requested your help building the chamber.” Dr Banner explained. “Your father worked with the original creator of the formula to build the chamber, so I figured I’d ask you to help? If you don’t want too I understand of course-”

 

“Well, why not? I always sort of stood in Steve’s shadow growing up. My dad always compared me to him, no idea why.” 

 

“I’m very sorry to hear that, Mr-”

“Please. Call me Tony.” Dad interrupted. “Kiddo? Don’t wander off, please!” He called me. I nodded and sat down on the office chair nearby. They started working on the machine for a bit. Eventually stopping as dad yelped out pulling his hand back.

 

“You okay?”

 

“Dad?”

 

“Yeah, sorry. I cut my hand on part of the machine. Sorry.” He said quickly.

 

“That looks bad.” Dr. Banner examined it. “I’m getting a first aid kit. Stay here!” he started walking off.

 

“Pete, toss me that hand towel will you?” He gestured toward the towel next to me. I did as he asked, and he wrapped his hand with it to stop the bleeding for now. I heard Dr. Banner coming back to examine his hand. He cleaned it and wrapped it quickly.

 

“It’ll need stitches.” He stated.

“Right.” He said getting up “Very sorry we couldn’t work on this more.”

 

“It’s fine. I don’t think I’ll need you again anytime soon. You go get that checked out all right?” Dr. Banner instructed.

 

“C’mon kiddo.” He said quickly. I followed him but slipped on something on the ground, catching myself on something, before that something fell over too, glass shattering around me. “Peter!” Dad yelled out. 

 

“Ow.” I groaned as he helped me up.  I felt a sharp pain on my left hand. “OW!” I yelled loudly. Holding my hand up. I stared in horror to see the spider from the terrarium on my hand, clearly having just bit me.

 

“Bruce!” Dad yelled out, before knocking the spider off and placing it quickly in a jar. Sealing it shut.

 

“What? Are you okay?” He said running over.

“Please tell me that venom is almost done being analyzed! The spider it-”

 

“Shit. Quickly, come with me!” Dad scoped me up and followed him.

 

“Dad?” I said quietly. “I don’t feel so good”

 

“Stay with me, Peter! Pete-”

I woke up with a headache… more like a body ache. Everything hurts. Like my body is on fire. I opened my eyes to see a blinding light. I could hear a heartbeat monitor and other varying machines nearby. I attempted to sit up, before being gently pushed back down. “Not yet, underoos.” Dad's voice spoke softly. “Let Dr. Banner know he’s awake?” he said to someone else. The door was opened and closed.

 

“Dad?” I asked, my voice horse, and sitting up.

 

“Hey, bambino. You scared us pretty bad.” he handed me some water.

 

“Sorry.” I said after taking a sip.

 

“It’s fine. Bruce mostly is relieved you’re okay. The venom should’ve killed you… if the spider actually had  a decent amount at the time.”

 

“What happened anyway?” 

 

“The spider… Bruce, recently extracted the venom, so it wasn’t much used. Otherwise it would have killed you. At least the normal amount would have. You got about a quarter of it instead. You’ve been asleep for 2 days and-”

 

“And you’ve been improving everyday.” Dr Banner interrupted.

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“Means… Well, the venom of any animal tends to attack the DNA and alter it. This leads to the after effects, not to mention it’s normally combined with other deadly things like neurotoxins and stuff. As seen in most spiders in Australia. This attacked your DNA too… but in a way I could have never imagined.” I stared at him as he explained, and my confused face led to him explaining more, “It’s… cured your asthma. And by the looks of things, your eyesight too.”

I touched my hands to my face, my glasses were missing… “Weird.”

 

“Cured his asthma?” Dad asked.

 

“Yes. Look here.” he pointed toward a screen keeping track of everything going on. “Your lungs, they are showing no signs of asthma. Like you’ve never had it.”

 

“Awesome.” I whispered.

 

“One less thing to worry about” dad breathed out.

 

“Of course there is one thing that worries me.”

“What?”

 

“His DNA, it’s constantly evolving. The sample I had to examine changed noticeably in the first 15 minutes. Upon further investigation it’s been doing that constantly. Not to mention his blood is radioactive now.”

 

“Cool!”

 

“So, keep him out of hospitals.”

 

“That is probably a good idea… I can check on him again in a few months if you’d like?” 

 

“Yes, please.” Dad nodded.

 

“What about the spider?” I wondered aloud. Dad looked over at Dr Banner.

 

“I… I killed it. Sorry Peter. I didn’t want it to hurt anyone else. I did it after you became stable.” He explained. “I kind of wished I didn’t now. Examining the venom and possible side effects would have been handy.”

 

“Okay.” I frowned. “When can I go home?”

 

“You seem perfectly healthy now, so your dad can take you home. Here’s my number, in case anything happens.” He said handing dad a card. 

 

“Thank you, Bruce. See you again sometime?”

 

“That’d be nice. Maybe I’ll be a super soldier by then.” He smiled.

-2 months later…

So far, no observed changes. Expect an increased appetite. Other than that, nothing. Dad was invited to some science gala. The same one he’s been invited to every year. He never let me go with him, except this year, I got to go. I was excited, but dad said he didn’t want the public to see me so he would just have me arrive as a random guest kid. He didn’t bribe the venue security…. So he says. But when I entered they just let me pass with no questions asked. I knew he lied about that. I wandered around, slightly bored, before settling on just standing near one of the snack bars. I grabbed a plate and sort of stood nearby, leaning against a wall. 

 

“Never see you before.” Another kid said as he approached me. I looked up at him. He had some auburn/blonde hair, like the two colors combined into one, reminding me of Aunt Pepper a bit. He wore a dark green suit that screamed rich snob, but the way he carried himself suggested otherwise. He was a little pale, but not sickly pale. He was… just cute.

“Uhm- I-”

 

“Your eyes are beautiful.” He observed, when he got closer. I blushed a bit.

 

“My Mother’s.” I said ,a bit flustered. “You are?”

 

“Harry, Harry Osborn.” He said, extending his hand to shake.

 

“Osborn?” I muttered to myself, as I shook his hand “That sounds familiar…”

“Well, my dad is Norman Osborn. CEO of Oscorp.” He shrugged. “Dad in blood only. He hardly shows up at the house… penthouse?” he said a bit confused at the end. “Either way he’s basically gone, constantly getting milk or whatever CEO’s do these days.”

 

I snorted. “Well, mine went to get some for 3 months.”

 

“Oh, sorry about that.”

 

“Oh no, you misunderstand. He was kidnapped.” I waved him off. He looked up at me in surprise.

 

“You’re the mysterious son.” he said in awe. “I was wondering if you’d show up at all.”

 

“He doesn’t want the public to know about me.” I shrugged. “It’s fine. I like getting to pretend to be a normal kid.”

 

“Lucky you got the choice too.” He said leaning against the wall with me. “So, your name?”

 

“Peter.” I smiled. “Stark to my family and friends. Parker to strangers.”

 

“Well, Peter Parker. Nice to meet you.” 

 

“You can call me Peter Stark, if you’d like.” I blushed.

 

“Yeah, but then I’d totally blow your cover if I did.. That is if we ever end up talking in public. Pretty sure my dad and yours are like rivals or something dumb.”

 

“Well, guess we’d just have to not talk in public then.” I suggested. Harry turned to stare at me wide eyed. “What?”

 

“Oh! You meant like- Nevermind.” He said turning away, his face slightly red. I stared at him confused.

 

“Give me your phone.” I said quickly. He did, after unlocking it. I entered my phone number. “There, now we can talk and our dads won’t have to know.” Harry looked at his new contact Peter S. Parker .

 

“S? Really?” He sighed.

“I couldn’t think of something else!” I defended myself.

 

“Well, why not your actual middle initial.” he rolled his eyes. 

 

“Well, then it’d be B, at least for that name.” I shrugged.

 

“B?”

 

“Benjamin. He is my mom’s brother. They don’t know about me… I was hoping to meet them someday.”

 

“I hope you do. Keep in touch. Parker .” he smirked and walked away. I opened my phone to text JARVIS, who was installed on my phone.

 

Uncle J

Don’t tell dad about him!

 

About you meeting Harry Osborn?

 

Yes!

Please! He seems nice!

 

I will refrain from telling Mr. Stark until you wish to tell him yourself.

 

Thanks Uncle J!

 

Of course, Peter.

 

♥️

I noticed that he edited the message, changing Harry Osborn to [REDACTED] which made me smile. I mingled around for another 15 minutes before Happy texted me to head out back to get picked up. I saw Harry staring at me from across the way as I left. I waved slightly at him before leaving, a smile on my face.

Notes:

I hope you enjoyed.

In this work, Peter's powers come to him over time, instead of all at once. Right now his eyesight has been fixed, along with his asthma. (at least by the end of the chapter) Eventually he'll gain his stickiness, heighten senses and super strength later on. (if you were curious about that.)

Also we got to meet Harry! :D I've gotten questions about what Harry would look like in my other work, so I'll say now he'll just look like Tom Holland's best friend (IRL) Harrison Osterfield. Probably the same in my other works too.

Next chapter soon!

Chapter 6: Expos and Committees

-3 Years later

The news spread like wild fire. Tony Stark was Iron Man, and had a son. The speculation on me was starting to grow wild too, illegitimate or a ‘bastard’ son whatever that meant. Some even speculated I was adopted or was just a cover for the fact that dad announced he was a superhero. I was browsing Twitter on the hashtags #IronKid and #Starksson it was… bizarre. Dad’s Wikipedia page was updated too. I was listed as Tony Stark’s Son, and no other information was given. My mom got a wikipedia page too. Just “Mary Stark” and that the Mary Stark Foundation was named after her, along with its goal/cause: Raising funds to further Cancer Research. I was proud of that at least. Though I knew that they were never married. It was likely a cover to further bury me in a mystery.

 

Auntie Pepper was both annoyed, frustrated and proud that he had announced everything. I’m pretty sure she had yelled at him for a few hours when we got home, I didn’t watch cause she had asked me to go upstairs so she could “discuss” something with my dad. I did ask JARVIS to play the audio feed though. That was entertaining. After the first month Dad had me come to fundraisers and what not, but only as some random kid that shows up. He never interacted with me, which was upsetting at first. I understood why, of course, just wish he was brave enough to do so.

 

In the end it wasn’t so bad, I got to meet someone my age. We had texted a lot, and JARVIS kept to his word that he wouldn’t tell Dad. He found it “amusing” which is so cool! The fact that he is evolving to understand emotions and even be capable of feeling them was awesome. Sure, he was still learning, but it was awesome all the same. School was still boring. I had expressed this to Harry, who had agreed, but admitted that it was good to get away from his dad. It seems he disliked, or just straight up hated, his dad. I never could fully understand why and apologized for that. He said it’s fine, and doesn’t expect me to. He did say that he wouldn’t be surprised if my dad understood what he meant. I asked what he meant by that but he said that wasn’t for him to answer.

 

Anyway, the Stark Expo. Dad announced in December that he was going to be reopening it all year round, next year. Which is exciting! I remember when he brought the Expo model out. He said I could mess with it, but to place whatever I found back where I found it. I didn’t really mess with it much. Eventually after the planning was done he leaned it up against the wall in his office and tossed a cover over it. And finally as the opening day came up, he had to rehearse the opening.

 

Some speech about how it’s a pleasure to open the expo again and blah blah blah. Dad was bored half way through the rehearsal. Which was the first one. “What would you like to do instead?” Pepper sighed.

 

“I don’t know. It feels.. Like cleaning up. For the conference a while ago.” He shrugged.

 

“It’s not supposed to be, Tony.” She rolled her eyes, then turned to me. “Any ideas, sweetheart?”

 

I looked up from my homework and thought for a moment. “Well… dad likes to make an entrance doesn’t he?”

 

“What are you suggesting?” She smiled.

The music was loud, because dad has yet to lose his eardrums. I was off to the side of the stage with Pepper. At the beat drop he slammed down onto the stage. Lifting his arms up in a pose, as well letting the arms disassemble his armor to put away. The dancers were cool, if a bit… exposed. “Isn't it cold?” I asked Pepper as they started walking away.

 

“Yes, but the movement keeps them warm.” She explained. “Let’s hear this speech of his now.” 

 

“Oh, It’s good to be back!” He clapped. “You missed me? Blow something up? I already did that. I’m not saying the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterpreted years of peace because of me. I’m not saying that from the ashes captivity, never has a greater phoenix metaphor been personified in human history. I’m not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an ice tea because I haven’t come across anyone who’s man enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day! Please, it’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s not even about us. It’s about Legacy. It’s what we choose to leave behind for future generations, and that’s why for the next year and for the first time since 1974 the best and brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future. It’s not about us! Therefore what I’m saying, if I’m saying anything is welcome back to the Stark Expo! And now making a special guest appearance from the great beyond. Please welcome my father, Howard.” Dad then walked offstage, while the video played. And a thought crossed my mind.

 

“ Everything is achievable through technology.  Better living, robust health, and for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace. So, from all of us here at Stark Industries , I would like to personally introduce you to the City of the Future. Technology holds infinite possibilities for mankind, and will one day rid society of all its ills. Soon technology will affect the way you live your life everyday. No more tedious work, leaving more time for leisure activities and enjoying the sweet life. The Stark Expo, welcome. ” Howard’s video ends. But I was too distracted to listen, besides I’ve seen it enough during the rehearsals. I pulled out my phone to text Harry.

 

A Raccoon Pretending to be human

 

Are you watching the news?

I’m worried about my dad, he’s been acting I don’t know.. Off?

Any ideas?

He keeps this small device to himself, but I have yet to see what it actually is.

I knew Harry wouldn’t respond right away, but hopefully soon. I followed Pepper back toward the car she was taking a different car from Tony. She got a call from Happy, saying that Tony was summoned to D.C. I rolled my eyes. Pepper said she would have me wait in a hotel nearby, but that I could watch. “Thanks, Pepper. You know I love watching Dad make old people upset.”

 

“I know. Just remember that when your dad is old too, okay?” She joked.

 

“I’m pretty sure when I turn into a teenager in a few years he’s gonna complain about all the grey hairs he’s getting from me.” 

 

“You’re probably right.”

At the hotel, with Happy watching over me. I had turned on the TV to watch the summoning. Dad was currently talking to Pepper, who was telling him to turn around. “Mr. Stark?”

 

“Yes, dear?” He joked, and the court room laughed, save for the people on the committee. 

 

“Can I have your attention?”

 

“Abosuletly.” He blinked at him.

 

“Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?” The senator asked.

 

“I do not.”

 

“You do not?”

 

“Well, it would depend on how you describe the word weapon .”

 

“The Iron Man weapon.” 

 

“My device does not fit that description.” 

 

“Well- how would you describe it?”

 

“I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator.”

 

“As?” the senator prompted.

 

“It’s a high tech prosthesis.” He said simply, and the court laughed at that again. I did too. “That is- That’s actually the most apt description I can make of it.”

 

“It's a weapon, it’s a weapon. Mr. Stark.”

 

“Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citizen-”

 

“My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America.”

 

“Well you can forget it. I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself. Which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you’re in. You can’t have it.”

 

“I’m not expert-”

 

“In prostitution? Of course not, you're a senator. Come on.” he joked. 

 

“Happy?”

 

“Yeah kid?” he called out from the kitchen. 

 

“What’s prostitution?”

 

“What?!” He yelled back, running into the room.

 

“What’s-”

 

“No, I heard you. Where did you hear that from?” He demanded.

 

“Dad said it on TV.” I shrugged.

 

“God damnit Tony.” He muttered to himself.  “I’m not answering that. You can ask Pepper or your dad later.” He said walking off.

 

“You know who THE expert? Your dad. Howard Stark.” I looked back to see Justin Hammer talking, and rolled my eyes. “Really a father to us all, and to the military-industrial age. Let’s just be clear. He was no flower child. He was a lion. We all know why we’re here, in the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibility.  And yet he insists it’s a shield. He asks us to trust him as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony, I really do. I’d love to leave  my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain’t Canada.  We live in a world of grave threats. Threats Mr. Stark will not always be able to foresee. Thank you. God bless Iron Man, God Bless America.”

 

“That is well said, Mr. Hammer. The committee would now like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber.”

 

“Rhodey? What?” Dad went to shake his hand, they talked for a moment before going back to sit.

 

“I have before me, a complete report on the Iron Man weapon, compiled by Colonel Rhodes. And, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?”  I rolled my eyes, taking something out of context is such a desperate move.

 

“You’re requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?” At least Uncle Rhodey agrees with me.

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner.”

 

“I understand. A lot of things have changed today.” The Senator was probably upset it was not going as planned, so now he requests such a  bizarre and roundabout way to try and turn it into his favor.

 

“So you do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summary of my final-”

 

“Just read it, Colonel. I do, thank you.”

 

“Very well. ‘As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and her interests.’ I did, however, go on to summarize the benefits of Iron man far outweigh the liabilities. And that it would be in our interest to fold Mr. Stark into the existing chain of command, Senator.”

 

“I’m not a joiner, but I’ll consider the Secretary of Defense if you ask nicely. We can amend the hours a bit.” 

 

“I would like to go and show the imagery that’s connected to your report.”

 

“I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public at the time.”

 

“With all due respect, Colonel, I understand. And if you could just narrate those for us, we’d be very grateful.”

 

“Let’s have the images. ‘Intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are, in fact, attempts at making manned copies of Mr. Stark’s suit. This has been corroborated by our allies and local intelligence on the ground, indicating that these suits are quite possibly at this moment operational.”

 

“Hold on one second, buddy. Let me see something here. Oh! Boy, I’m good. I commandeered your screens. I need them. Time for a little transparency. Now, let’s see what’s really going on.”

 

“What is he doing?”

 

“If you will direct your attention to said screens- I bel;ieve that’s North Korea.” There was a bulky suit that fell over and started shooting, killing a camera man.

“Can you turn that off? Take it off?

 

“Iran.” There was an explosion and some debris landed on the camera man, likely killing him too. “No grave immediate threat here. Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game?” it was Hammer instructing someone in a suit, “Justin you’re on TV, focus up!” Eventually the pilot of the suit twisted to the left, before screaming out in pain. Hammer responded in ‘oh shit. Oh shit!’ before he unplugged the tv.

 

“Wow. yeah, I’d say most countries are 5-10 years away.. Hammer Industries, 20.”

 

“I’d like to point out that the test pilot survived.”

 

“I think we're done, is the point that he’s making. I don’t think there’s any reason-”

 

“The point is, you're welcome? I guess?”

 

“For what?”

 

“Because I’m your nuclear deterrent. It’s working. We’re safe. America is secure. You want my property, you can’t have it. But I did you a big favor.” He stood up and turned around. “I’ve successfully privatized world peace.” he said, holding up peace signs. “What more do you want? For now! I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns.”

 

“F- you Mr. Stark. F- You buddy. We’re adjourned. We’re adjourned for the day.”

 

“Okay.” He smiled, and blew kisses at the senator.

 

“You’ve been a delight.” The senator said sarcastically. Dad walked back toward a camera

 

“My bond is with the people. And I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. IF there’s one thing I’ve proven, is that you can count on me-” The tv turned off suddenly. I looked up to see Happy holding the remote.

 

“Okay, let's head home, kid.” He sighed.

Notes:

It was never clear on when Iron Man 1 & 2 take place. I know 2 takes place 6 months after 1, but the issue is that I think originally IM1 is suppose to take place in 2008, but they later retconned to say 2010 (or 11?) so it would line up with Thor/Hulk. However I think it's far simpler to just say 1 is 2008 and 2 is 2011. That way it can line up easily.

... and this is where I tell you I gotta rewrite chapter 7 because of this. I already started writing some of it and now I gotta rewrite. Mostly because I was under the assumption that 2 was 6 months later (cause the movie says so in the opening stuff which is bs) but upon further research, and a lack of a clear timeline, I've just said screw it and just make it 3 years later.

So fun... not! Anyway at least rewatching the movies is entertaining enough.

Also, yes Peter did name Harry's contact "a raccoon pretending to be a human" so yeah, why? um no clue yet I just found it funny.

I hope you enjoyed!

Chapter 7: A New CEO, and A Race Track

Dad was doing his thing in the garage, Pepper was making a meal while I sat and did some homework. As she set the stove to simmer, she pulled her tablet out and was reading through some emails. Judging by her expression, something just made her upset. And she started marching down to the garage. I frowned and followed her, not before asking JARVIS to keep an eye on the food. She was already in there shouting at him. He was walking around and messing with his holograms. Tossing one like a skeebal. I entered my code before entering to hear their conversation.

 

“-To say our collection considering the time that I put in, over 8 years, curating that.” Pepper argued. Did he sell her modern art collection? Seriously?

 

“It was a tax write-off. I needed that.” He shrugged.

 

“You know about 8,011 things that I really need to talk to you about.”

 

“Hey, DUM-E.” He patted the robot. “Stop spacing out the Bridgeport is already machining that part.”

 

“The Expo is a gigantic waste of time.” Pepper said standing in front of him trying to get his attention.

 

“I need you to wear a surgical mask until you’re feeling better. Is that okay?” He instructed before patting her shoulder and walking off.

 

“That’s rude.” I said walking over to them.

 

“There is nothing more important than the Expo. It’s my primary point of concern.”

 

“The Expo is your ego gone crazy.” 

 

“Wow. Look at that.” he said, holding up a portrait of Iron Man. “That’s modern art. That’s going up.”

 

“You have got to be kidding me.” Pepper and I said at the same time.

 

“I’m putting this up right now. This is Vital.” He started, and started walking off. I ignored them, sort of tuning them out to look around the lab a bit. I was at dad’s desk where there was a box of something and a small device. Curiously, I picked up the device, it read Blood Toxicity Level and it was at 24%. Which is odd. As I was about to open the woodbox Tony said something that had caught my attention. “I’m trying to make you CEO! Why won't you let me?”

 

“Have you been drinking?”

 

“Uh, chlorophyll.” He answered. Which is what exactly? “I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries, effective immediately. Yeah. Done deal. Okay?” he patted her arm and walked over to DUM-E who had acquired drinks. “I have actually given this  fair amount of thought, believe it or not. Doing a bit of headhunting, so to speak, trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be, before Peter can take the wheel. Then I realized-” he popped the champagne cork out. “-it’s you. It’s always been you. I thought there’d be a legal issue, but actually I’m capable of appointing my successor. My successor being you. Congratulations? Just take it.”

 

“I don’t know what to think.”

 

“Don’t think, just drink.” He insisted.I wandered over to sit by them. Before I could even sit fully, JARVIS interrupted.

 

“ Sir, I should let you know that the food Ms. Potts was cooking is about to be finished. ”

 

“I got it.” He said, before Pepper could even stand up. He quickly walked out and up the stairs. She just sat there in shock.

 

“I always figured he’d pick you.”

 

“What?”

 

“Well you know the company better than anyone, except him of course. You’ve been running it more and more every day. Even before… you know. So, of course he’d pick you.”

 

“I- I guess.” She was still processing everything. “Wouldn’t you rather-”

 

“No.”

 

“No?”

 

“I mean, sure I’d love to run the company and stuff. But look at what it did to him. I’d rather just… I don’t know, let someone else run it and just be me.” I shrugged. “Dad talks about legacy a lot. And I think that has to do with his dad. I don’t know much about my own grandfather, you know? Dad refuses to talk about him, and the only one capable of doing it is Uncle Rhodey who won’t say anything about him either. Likely cause Dad told him to, or cause he won’t be nice about it? I don’t know. In the end? Stark Industries is our legacy now, and we can do whatever we want with it.”

 

“How very mature of you, Peter.” 

 

“Well, someone has to be mature when you aren’t here.” I chuckled. She laughed too.

 

Watching dad in the gym was hilarious, as always. I was doing gymnastics while we waited for Pepper to get back with the notary. I was totally not using my spider powers I’ve developed over the last 3 years to be better at it. Nope. No way. Of course, if I was actually interested in doing actual gymnastics I would have to refrain from using it (it would be cheating!) Anyway, I’ve noticed that I was increasing my muscle mass very fast. Unfortunately the gym wasn’t high enough to try out the webshooters I developed. Dad was impressed by the webbing too, I also had developed spinnerets on my wrists. The non organic webbing was used with the webshooters. Dad had made over 237 different settings, and said he was making more too. It was a bit much. But he said better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it. So who am I to argue?

 

I heard Pepper and the Notary approaching so I opted to stop messing around and take a break to watch Happy and dad box. “The Notary is here. Can you please come sign the paperwork?” Pepper called out as she entered the gym. I turned to look at her with a smile on my face. “Hey kiddo.” She said as she stopped next to where I was sitting. 

 

“Hi Aunt Pepper.” 

 

“I promise this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company!” Pepper shouted at dad.

 

“He gets distracted easily.” I sighed.

 

“Don’t I know it.” She agreed. The Notary had entered the gym. I turned to look at her and was perplexed to see ‘Miss Rushman’ as she had called herself. Wasn’t she with Mr. Coulson? I looked at her suspiciously, and she had the audacity to wink at me. As she walked over to us she had held up the document for Pepper to sign. 

 

“I need you to initial each box.” She informed Pepper. I heard some quick punches before Happy said that’s it I’m done.

 

“What’s your name lady?” Dad asked her.

 

“Rushman. Natalie Rushman.” She responded.

 

“Front and center. Into the church.” He instructed.

 

“No. You’re seriously not gonna ask-”

 

“If it pleases the court, which it does.”

 

“It’s no problem.” Ms Rushman said rather simply, before walking over to dad’s ‘court’ and entering. As she entered dad took a drink of his weird drink he’s been having over the last few weeks.

 

“What?” he said as he was done. “Can you give her a lesson?” he asked Happy. He joined Pepper on the seat. “Who is she?” 

 

“She is from legal. And she is a potentially a vey expensive sexual harassment lawsuit. I don’t need you ogling her like that.”

 

“I need a new assistant boss.”

 

“Yes, and I’ve got three excellent potential candidates. They’re lined up and ready to meet you.”

 

“I don’t have time to meet. I need someone now. I feel like it’s her.”

 

“No it’s not.” Pepper stated, annoyed. I watched Happy and Ms Rushman chat a bit before dad asked how he spelled her name. “What are you gonna google her now?”

 

“Hm? I thought I was ogling her.” He said scrolling through her career history. “Oh, wow. Very, very impressive individual. She’s fluent in French, Italian, Russian, and Latin. Who speaks Latin?”

 

“No one speaks Latin, it's a dead language.” I said.

 

“No one speaks Latin?”

 

“You can read Latin,or  you can write Latin but you can’t speak Latin.” Pepper continued.

 

“Did you model in Tokyo? ‘Cause she modeled in Tokyo. I need her, she’s got everything I need.” Dad said. I rolled my eyes. I looked over at the ‘court’ right as Happy said rule one never take your eyes off your opponent- before getting flipped onto his back.

 

“Oh my god!” Pepper said, startled. “Happy!”

 

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Dad said impressed.

 

“I just slipped.” Happy grunted as he got up.

 

“You did?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Looks like a TKO to me.” Dad said, tapping the bell.

 

“Just- I need your impression.” She said as she got down from the boxing ring.

 

“You have a quiet reserve. I don’t know, you have an old soul.” Dad explained.

 

“I meant your fingerprint.” Ms. Rushman corrected, holding up her documents.

 

“Right.” He sighed. He quickly gave the fingerprint.

 

“So, how are we doing?” Pepper asked, walking over.

 

“Great. Just wrapping up. Hey. You’re the boss” He smiled.

 

“Will that be all, Mr. Stark?”

 

“No.”

 

“Yes, that will be all, Ms. Rushman.” Pepper interrupted. Ms. Rushman started walking out, on the way out she winked at me. Which only raises more questions.

 

“I want one.” Dad asked Pepper.

 

“No.” She turned to glare at him.

 

-A few days later…

 

“Remind me why I’m in Monaco when I should be at school?” I complained.

 

“Uh, cause you’re gonna watch the race with me?” Dad rolled his eyes. He was up front with Happy while Pepper was sitting next to me. 

 

“I guarantee this is gonna be boring.” I grumbled.

 

“10 bucks says you're wrong.” Dad challenged me.

 

“Enough.” Pepper interrupted. “Peter, sweetie, put these on.” she said, handing me sunglasses. I inspected them a bit, before putting them on.

 

“Did you have to get us matching ones?” 

 

“Your dad bought them, not me.” She smirked, though I think she thought it was cute.

 

“I have exquisite taste, what do you mean underoos?”

 

“Your favorite t-shirt is an ac/dc shirt that you got like 50 years ago.” I retorted, causing Happy and Pepper to laugh.

 

“50?!” Dad said exasperated. “How old do you think I am?”

“I dunno… 57?” I joked, I know he is  40, but the reactions Pepper and Happy gave were worth the possible punishments.

 

“What about Happy? Or Pepper?”

 

“Happy’s gotta be like 78.” I smiled, causing Tony to laugh with Pepper this time.

 

“What the hell?” He complained.

 

“You act grumpy all the time.” I shrugged. 

 

“And Pep?”

 

“Easy, she’s 38.”

 

“Why does she get special treatment?” Happy demands.

 

“Cause she’s my favorite.” I shrugged, causing her to smile at me. Tony laughed, and muttered same, kid . We stopped in front of the venue where we were gonna watch the race. Dad got out holding up a peace sign, while Happy got out and opened Pepper’s door while dad opened mine. I wasn’t worried about cameras that much, dad put a little device on my tie that would distort my face. Along with the sunglasses I felt rather at ease coming here.

 

“You know, it’s Europe, whatever happens within the next 20 minutes just go with it.” Dad told Pepper.

 

“Go with it? Go with what?” She questioned.

 

“Mr. Stark?” Ms. Rushman greeted us.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Hello, How was your flight?” She had a fake smile, at least it looked fake.

 

“Excellent, boy it’s nice to see you.”

 

“We have one photographer from the ACM, if you don’t mind.” She started, a server walked up handing out drinks for Pepper and him, she quickly took them out of their hands. 

 

“When did this happen?” Pepper glared at him.

 

“You made me do it.”

 

“You made me do what?”

 

“You quit.” He ignored her. “Smile. Look right there. Stop acting constipated. Don’t flare your nostrils.”

 

“You are so predictable. That’s the amazing thing.” Pepper gritted out.

 

“Right this way.” Ms. Rushman interrupted.  

 

“You look fantastic.” Dad said, following her. I rolled my eyes, but trailed behind as well.

 

“Why, thank you very much.”

 

“But that’s unprofessional. What’s on the docket?”

 

“You have a 9:30 dinner.”

 

“Perfect, I'll be there at 11:00.” 

 

“Absolutely.” She nodded. I felt a little bad for her, she clearly had no idea what Pepper went through as his PA.

 

“Is this us?” He asked, pointing at a corner table.

“It can be.” She stated.

 

“Great. Make it us.” He said simply

 

“Okay.” She turned to a server, where I noticed a familiar face…

 

“Mr. Osborn.” Dad greeted, with a tone that was filled with hate.

 

“Mr. Stark.” Mr. Osborn greeted back, tone filled with the same level of hate. He turned to Pepper. “Congratulations on the promotion, Ms. Potts.”

 

“Thank you.” She smiled. She was way more civil than the two. Clearly having no care for their weird rivalry. They don’t even work in the same field! I noticed Harry was here too, we opted to ‘ignore’ each other in public, lest we face the wrath of some over protective fathers. “I’m sorry for your loss.” I thought briefly of what she meant, then I remembered that his dad, Amberson Osborn, had recently passed.

 

“Thank you.” He actually smiled. THE Norman Osborn smiled. I must have traveled to another dimension. I looked over at Harry, who must be having the same thoughts as me.

 

“And that’s enough of that.” Dad interrupted, dragging Pepper off. I followed. “You want a message?”

 

“Oh god.” Pepper sighed. “No, I don’t want a massage.”

 

“I’ll have Natalie make an appointment.”

 

“I don’t want Natalie to do anything.”

 

“By the way, I didn’t mean to spring this on you.”

 

“Thank you very much.” They stopped at a bar.

 

“Green is not your best color.”

 

“Oh please.” Pepper rolled her eyes.

 

“Anthony? Is that you? Hey, pal.” Justin Hammer said, peaking his head over toward us and walking over.

 

“My least favorite person on Earth, Justin Hammer.” Dad complained.

 

“How are you doing? You’re not the only rich guy here with a fancy car. You know Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair? You guys know each other?” He said pointing over at her. My mind supplies, The Trash Lady! But I don’t say out loud.

 

“Hi!” She greeted us.

 

“Yes, roughly.” Dad agreed, he probably forgot all about her.

 

“We do.” She smiled.

 

“BTW, big story. The new CEO of Stark Industries. Congratulations.” Hammer said, pointing at Pepper.

 

“I know. I know. My editor will kill me if I don’t grab a quote for our Powerful Woman issue. Can I?” 

 

“Oh! Sure.”

 

“She’s actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair. I thought I’d throw her a bone.” He explained, and no one asked. “Right?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Well, she did quite a spread on Tony last year.” Pepper joked. I had to stop myself from laughing.

 

“And she wrote a story as well.” Dad continued.

 

“It was very impressive.” Pepper deadpanned.

 

“That was good.” Dad was trying to stop from laughing.

 

“Very well done.”

 

“Thank you.” She said uncomfortable.

 

“I’m gonna go wash.” Pepper stated before walking off.

 

“Don’t leave me.” Tony begged. 

 

“Hey buddy. How you doing?” Hammer said, patting his shoulder and holding him in place.

 

“I’m doing alright.” Dad lied. Trash Lady was trying to ask questions while Hammer was trying to get a good photo from the photographer.

 

She finally got their attention. “Listen, is it the first time you’ve seen each other since the Senate?”

 

“Uh, since he got his contract revoked.” Dad pointed at Hammer.

 

“Actually, it’s on hold.” Hammer corrected.

 

“That’s not what I heard. What’s the difference between "hold" and " canceled"? The truth” Dad asked, walking over to a table. I just stood next to him, know he was probably gonna leave soon

 

“No. The truth is-” he smacked at the recorder the trash lady was holding. “Why don’t we put that away. The truth is, I’m actually hoping to present something at your Expo.” Hammer said.

 

“Well, if you invent something that works, I’ll make sure I get you a slot.” Dad deadpanned, I snorted, which caused him to smirk, and Hammer to glare at me.

 

“Mr. Stark? Your table is ready.” Ms. Rushman walked up to us. We quickly followed her. Dad joked that Hammer needed a slot. He excused himself to the bathroom before leaving us at the table. 

 

I went to check on him and he had just come out. “Oh! Follow me.” He instructed. I frowned, but obliged his request. He led me out to the track and had me sit in the stands. Then disappeared again. Only to reappear wearing the racing suit and walking out onto the track. I used my enhanced hearing to focus on him. He hopped the barrier and had started telling the driver to leave and that he will be driving instead. “Whats the use of having, and owning, a racecar… if you don’t drive it?” He said plainly. The crowd agreed with him. As the final checks were being done, I got a weird feeling down my neck. I looked around confused, before spotting one of the workers walking with some extra confidence for some reason. As the race started, he started heading toward the barrier, before pushing it open, and closing it behind him. He ignored some of the cars before flipping off his helmet and pulling the jacket apart.. Revealing an ARC reactor strapped to his chest. He flicked something down from the sleeves, and the jacket started burning up, revealing a whip… powered by an ARC reactor. As the next car approached, he slashed at it, cutting it apart. It tumbled around a bit before sticking up on the fence.

 

The tingling started up again before I saw dad’s car head straight for him. The guy cut at the front of the car, slicing threw it, causing dad to tumble around a bit too. He eventually skidded across the track before getting stuck on the parts of the car earlier. AS more cars approached, one stopped to avoid hitting him, which caused other cars to crash into it. This guy ignored the cars exploding and flying over him, which was really cool, if not scary. I started making my way down toward dad’s car. Jumping down from the stands ignoring the protests of the people around me. When the guy got closer he slashed the car again, but dad wasn’t there. Dad was behind him, he smacked him with a piece of metal. The metal was slapped out of his hand and he dodged more attacks. The feeling again, and dad quickly jumped up the fence. I stumbled back as the guy was hit by the car Happy was driving. “Hey kid.” He breathed out before hoping down. “Hey! Were you heading for me or him?” He asked Happy.

“I was trying to scare him!” Happy yelled back.

 

“Cause I can’t tell!”

 

“Are you out of your mind?!” Pepper screamed.

 

“Better security!” He pointed at her.

 

“Get in the car right now! Both of you!” 

 

“I was attacked!”

 

“Get in the car!” Happy yelled.

 

“You’re CEO. Better security measures. God it’s embarrassing.” He complained, walking over to the side door. I had gotten around the fence by sprint to a gate and was heading to the car, dad opened the door for me. “First vacation in 2 years.” Dad grumbled. That sensation again, as I was about to step past him, the car door was sliced off! Dad quickly shoved me behind him. Happy quickly reserved and slammed into him again. “Hit him again!” Dad yelled, and Happy obliged. They were yelling at each other to give Tony the case. Eventually he slashed down the middle of the car. Pepper was screaming more, I scrambled to my feet looking for something to help. The guy slashed at the side of the car. Dad screamed more for the case before Pepper finally tossed it onto the road. He tapped the bottom, and it started to unfold. He lifted it onto him and it assembled around him. He pushed the car away and turned toward him. He aimed at him, but was slashed away. The repulsor was damaged so he used his other hand. The whip guy blocked each attack with his whips. He wrapped a hand, then his neck and tossed him around a bit. I tossed a piece of metal at him. He turned to look at me, then raised a whip at me. As he was about to swing, dad yanked on his other hand, causing him to miss. He started wrapping the armor around the whip and got closer before tossing him over head and yanking the ARC reactor out. The guy spat out blood, and laughed like a manic. “You lose!” He laughed, “You lose!” now laughing like a manic. Now the thought crosses my mind… What exactly did dad lose?

Notes:

No real notes to give. Other then I like the running joke of "The Trash Lady" that Peter has developed. And the first appearance of Norman (gross)! along with the mention of Harry's Granddad! (Who is dead RIP. but not really he was a jerk.) So yeah.

Now a question. Should I include Emily in this? I'm not sure yet, and debating on saying she died before Harry and Peter meet. So some insight will help!

Hope you enjoyed! :D

Chapter 8: Runaway

Leaving the race track was a blur. Pepper was sitting near me while Happy went to get another car. I don’t even remember getting into the car and arriving at the airport and we waited on dad’s plane. Pepper said he went to see the guy that attacked him. I nodded and just leaned against her shoulder and fell asleep, by the time I woke up we were already in the air. The TV Pepper was watching was the news. I groaned and sat up, mumbling “Mute.” Pepper looked over at me, a small smile on her face.

 

“A good sleep?” 

 

“Yes, actually” I replied, after considering it. “I find it easier to sleep in odd positions now.”

 

“That’s interesting, think it’s something to do with the bite?” She looked genuinely curious, normally she doesn’t ask about the powers, but I’m glad she is now.

 

“Maybe. I dunno. I’d ask Dr. Banner but he’s… missing.” I shrugged. “Where’s dad?”

 

“Right here.” He said coming out of the back. He placed a tray on the table next to Pepper.

 

“What is that?” She looked at it dubiously.

 

“It’s your in-flight meal.” He answered by taking the cover off.

 

“Did you just make that?” 

 

“Yeah. Where do you think I’ve been for three hours?” 

 

“Tony? What are you not telling us?” She looked at him with a worried expression on her face.

 

He sat in silence for a moment, then “I don’t want to go home. Let’s cancel my birthday party and- uh, We’re in Europe let’s got to Venice, Cipriani. Remember?”

 

Pepper scoffed. “Oh yeah.”

 

“It’s a great place to… be healthy.” Healthy? What does he mean by that?

 

“I don’t think this is the right time. We’re in kind of a mess.”

 

“Well maybe that's why it’s the best time.” He countered.

 

“Well. I think as the CEO I need to show up.”

 

“As CEO, you are entitled to a leave.”

 

“A leave?” I asked bewildered.

 

“A company retreat.”

 

“A retreat? During a time like this?” Pepper seemed exhausted.

 

“Well, I’m just saying, to recharge our batteries and figure it all out.” He explained, but it didn’t really explain much.

 

“Not everyone runs on batteries, Tony.” Pepper said softly. After we landed and returned home, I checked my phone to find Harry had texted.

 

a raccoon pretending to be human

 

Peter!

Are you okay?

I went to look for you after a bit.

Only to see your dad fighting someone with

these crazy whips and you tossing stuff at him!

Just are you okay?

LMK please!

 

I’m okay.

Sorry I didn’t respond right away.

Fell asleep on the plane before we took off.

I’m back home now.

Dad is acting weird, again.

Any ideas?

 

Peter! It’s good to hear from you!

Also you are the only person I know that 

falls asleep on a plane before it takes off!

 

Shut up! 🙄

 

Back to your dad, explain in more detail?

 

He’s been… odd.

Odder than what you’ve probably heard of on TV

On the plane after waking up, he asked us to go on

a company retreat!

And said that Venice or Caprine is a good place to be ‘healthy’

That’s hard to imagine…

A company retreat to be healthy?

Peter, it sounds like he thinks he is dying.

 

What?

How?

That doesn’t make sense!

 

My grandfather had wanted to go visit places

with us a few weeks before he was admitted to the hospital.

He ended up dying a few days afterward.

 

That can’t be right!

 

The doctors believed he had been thinking

he was going to die soon so he made us go with him.

Which if you think my father is bad, imagine his father.

That was the worst family vacation ever.

 

I’m sorry.

I wish I could’ve gone with you or something!

 

Yeah then they’d have questions about you.

 

True, I guess.

My dad didn’t want to do his birthday party this year.

And you know how much he likes his parties.

 

Sounds like he wanted to spend his last birthday

with people he cares about instead of a bunch 

of strangers.

 

Maybe you’re right.

 

If you ever need somewhere to go… My mom has her own 

apartment I can take you to. 

She’s out of the country right now.

Just let me know you’re on the way first?

 

Thanks for the offer, Harry.

I’ll let you know.

 

Maybe pack a bag just in case.

 

Wait, isn't this apartment in NYC?

 

Yeah. Just um.. Idk take a train?

 

A train. From California. To New York?

 

Or a plane!

 

A plane, probably…

I’m gonna go, the party is gonna start soon.

 

You are actually gonna be there for that?

 

No, I’m hiding in my room.

It gets loud.

 

Right, of course.

Don’t drink!

I snorted at his last message. Why would I drink at the age of 9? Weirdo. Either way, I packed an emergency bag. I thought about what to take. Clothes? Yes. Toiletries? Yes. Phone? Yes… but I opened it up and removed the tracker I know dad installed in the casing. I also grabbed the device Dad used to scramble my face from cameras. I opted to take it as well, but not before checking if it had any trackers as well. Luckily it didn’t. I also had put my wallet in there too. Dad could find out where I was if I used the card that definitely has way too much money for a 10 year old. So I first would have to find an ATM and get cash. Then it’d be about getting a ticket to New York. I figured I’d just wing it if it comes to that. I heard the music start up. I figured the party was starting then. “Uncle J?”

 

“ Yes, sir? ”

 

“If… hypothetically, I were to leave. Would you tell dad?”

 

“ I am obligated to inform your father if he asks. Why? ”

 

“I… I’m worried about him. If he’s okay. I don’t- I don’t want to watch him die. You care about my well-being right?”

 

“ Of course I do, Peter. My programming by your father lists you as a higher priority than him. ”

 

“So.. if you linked to my phone, would you stay with me? Even if I leave?”

 

“ Is this still hypothetical? ”

 

I opened my mouth but closed it considering his question. “Yes.” I answered.

 

“ And, hypothetically of course, I would not inform Mr. Stark about your location should you leave the premises? ” 

 

I smirked. “Yeah. Exactly Uncle J!” I heard the music abruptly stop. I turned toward the door, curiously. “Um, Jarvis?”

 

“ I’m only going to say this once. Get out. ” I heard Rhodey’s voice boom out. “ You don’t deserve to wear one of these! Shut it down! ”

 

“ Goldstein? ”

 

“ Yes, Mr. Stark? ”

 

“ Give me a phat beat to kick my buddy’s ass to .” I sighed. Before glancing at the bag. 

 

“Jarvis?”

 

“ Yes, sir? ”

 

“You on my phone?”

 

“ Yes, I am. ”

 

“Good. We’re leaving.” I frowned. Grabbing the bag. I opened the window, seeing people run off. Luckily my room was in a place easily climbed down from. I quickly got onto the roof, and left the window open. As I landed on the lawn I heard my bedroom door open, following the clicking of heels. Pepper.

 

“Peter?” She asked into an empty room. I didn’t look back. I just kept going. “Peter!?” I heard her yell out. I already tuned her out. I kept walking. I found myself at a bus stop that was about to leave. I managed to get on the bus before it took off.

 

“Where to?” The driver asked, ignoring the fact that I am a child.

 

“LAX.” I said.

 

“$35.” He informed me. I nodded, and paid. Before finding a place to sit. I muted my phone and ignored the calls from Pepper. I opened my texts with Harry.

 

a raccoon pretending to be a human

 

I’m on the way. Heading to LAX now. 

Send address over? Expect me in at least 7ish hours?

 

Ok. Let me know where you’re landing.

See you soon?

 

Yeah. Soon.

The bus ride was uneventful. Traffic wasn’t bad, considering it’s LA. I managed to get a ticket to JFK in NYC. Waiting to board was mind numbingly boring as well. The flight even more so. It was interesting. Sure, people were making sure I was fine. I was required to be with someone the entire time, being only 9. I was asked questions, which I ignored. Saying stranger danger and what not. About 5 hours later I told Harry I was here. He said he was on his way. Which confused me. Can Harry drive? At 9 years old? Weird, but useful I guess. He said to meet at a park he gave an address to. I found myself sitting on a swing waiting. It was cold. I forgot to pack a warm coat. I texted JARVIS.

 

Uncle J

 

Is everyone okay? What happened after I left?

 

It’s good to see you landed safely, Peter. Your father lost

to Colonel Rhodes. Who confiscated the Mark II.

Pepper has attempted to contact you as well. You have 

139 missed calls from her. 

 

I frowned. Of course Pepper was worried. I just hope she’ll forgive me for leaving her. I heard footsteps heading toward me. I looked up to see Harry, and someone I didn’t recognize. “Hey.” I greeted.

 

“Hey, yourself.” He said sitting on the swing next to me. “Total emo kid vibes by the way.”

 

“What?”

 

“You’re out here sitting on a swing by yourself, at like 5 in the morning. Emo kid vibes.” He explained. 

 

“Right.” I rolled my eyes. “Whose your friend?” I asked, looking over at the lady he was with.

 

“Oh! Right. That’s my mom.”

 

I perked up. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Osborn.” 

 

“So you’re the boy Harry has been texting almost everyday?” She asked, walking over. 

 

“Yeah. Peter. Peter Parker.” I smiled.

 

“It’s nice to meet you.” 

 

“I thought you said she was out of the country?”

 

“She had a change of plans. Came home early. Norman went out of the country to fill her place.” He explained with a shrug.

 

“Besides, it's nice to meet Harry's friends. Not that Norman would approve.” She winked at me. “Let’s go. You can stay at the apartment I own.”

 

“Why do you have it?” I wondered aloud.

 

“I had it before I met Norman. I’ve kept it ever since. Just felt like it I suppose.” She explained as we walked toward the car. The apartment was nice. Near the top of the building. On the 28th floor. It was big. Open. But it looked like a home. It looked lived in, unlike the Malibu house I was so used to. The only place that looked lived in was my bedroom. Something Harry related too. Who lived in the penthouse of Oscorp Tower. Only the bedrooms looked actually lived in. Cluttered shelves and the like. He shared pictures before. But he didn’t show his room, I only ever saw it when we did video calls occasionally. Mrs. Osborn’s apartment was much better. Harry had a room here, but his dad did not. I wondered if there was a specific reason for that. I was always too afraid to ask. Emily allowed me to stay in a guest room. Shaking her head when I said the couch was fine. Harry said that’d be rude, when they have a perfectly open guest room. I fell asleep wondering if dad was okay.

To say she was frustrated was an understatement. Of course Fury wouldn’t let her kill Vanko. It’d blow her cover. Well, now that’s biting his ass cause Vanko is ‘dead’ or at least, they think he is. But a quick hack into security cams showed otherwise. Someone wanted Vanko. Who? No clue. Either way, Pepper Potts was on to her now. She avoided her, and left the party. She reported to Fury what happened. That’s when she learned the kid ran away. “I’ll find him.” She stated.

 

“No. You won’t. You have to maintain cover at Stark Industries.” Fury countered. “We are already looking. The minute we find him, I’ll let you know.”

 

“Fine.” She relented. “Just so you know. If you let me kill Vanko we wouldn’t have to worry about where he is right now.” She informed him before walking off.

 

“Romanov.” 

 

“Yes Fury?”

 

“We need you for something with Stark.”

 

“Got it.”

Waking up to the smell of something being cooked was not something Peter was used to. Normally Dad just ordered something. That’s when I remembered that I wasn’t home. I sat up quickly and remembered I was at Mrs. Osborn's’ place. I wandered out into the hall, following the smell of food. Only to find Mrs. Osborn making eggs and waffles. “Good morning.” I mumbled rubbing my eyes.

 

“Good morning! I hope you don’t mind waffles.” She said, pressing the waffle iron down.

 

“I actually prefer them. Dad thinks they are an abomination or something." I shrugged.

 

“Well, he has poor taste.” She laughed. “Can you go and wake Harry? Almost done here.”

 

“Yeah.” I nodded before walking over toward the bedrooms. I listened, trying to focus on the heartbeats. Something I thought was awesome, but freaked dad… and well everyone out. I found Harry’s room and knocked before opening after no response. I smiled at his room. Star Wars posters, along with Stark Trek. Batman and other various comic posters also adorned the walls. I walked over to his bed, contemplating how to wake him. I opted to just drag the blanket off, hoping I pull him with it. 

 

“Ah! Cold” He yelped, trying to reach for the blanket.

 

“Your mom said I should wake you up. She made breakfast.”

 

“Waffles?” He mumbled.

 

“Yeah. C’mon.” I said dropping the blanket and leaving. I sat at the table. She had plated some for me. But she left it blank so I could put my own toppings on.

 

“Coffee?” She asked. Coming over with some mugs.

 

“Can’t have.” I said. Spiders and caffeine don’t mix. I learned that the hard way… when I walked on the ceiling of the garage for an hour. Dad had begged me to come down and when I did I promptly fell asleep. “Unless you want me to sleep in an hour.” I shrugged.

 

“What?”  She looked at me curiously.

 

“Oh! Um… Nothing.” I blushed. She had got me water instead, which I was thankful for. We ate in a peaceful silence. She had to leave for work at Oscorp, but had called Harry out of school for the week. After she left we played mario cart for a bit, before getting bored of that. 

 

“Let’s do something else.” 

 

“Okay… like what?” 

 

“Hm. What’s something you’ve always wanted to do?” 

 

“Oh! Uh…” I thought about it, and only one answer came to my mind. “I’ve always wanted to meet my Uncle.” I shrugged.

 

“What?”

Notes:

I hope you enjoyed!

Did I sprinkle in Nat POV? yes. She's going to end up like Peter eventually. She actually wanted to kill Vanko for trying to attack Peter, which is why she is frustrated in her POV.

Also, I did add Emily! She know's Peter is a Stark (Harry told her when he asked if she can drive him to get his friend) But lets him be Peter Parker to her. So that's fun.

Peter gets to meet May and Ben next chapter. So keep an eye out! 👀

Chapter 9: Drones, a pair of masks, and a cube?

We found ourselves in front of the building where my mom’s brother lived. Along with his wife. I was nervous. Incredibly nervous. Would they like me? Would they even recognize me? Dad always said I had my mom’s eyes. Would he notice? And put two and two together? Harry nudged me out of my thoughts. “We can’t stand here all day. You may not exactly be a well known celebrity, hiding your face and all, but I am. Let’s just go inside. What’s the worst that could happen?”

 

“They hate me and want nothing to do with me before tossing me out and calling Dad to come and get me?” 

 

“Is that really the worst case scenario in your head?” He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Yes.”

“Overthinker much? C’mon let’s just go.” He sighed and tugged on my arm.

 

“Fine.” As we entered, I double checked Jarvis' message about where they are. The apartment number and everything. We took the elevator up to the 3rd floor, and found apartment number 19. I knocked on it. Harry gave an encouraging smile. It was opened by an Italian woman. This must be May Parker. “Hi, I’m-”

 

“Mary’s son? Right?” She interrupted. I nodded. “You have her eyes.” She explained. “We knew she was pregnant… but we haven’t heard from her in years.”

 

“Oh. I- I’m sorry she died giving birth to me.” I frowned, tears in my eyes. I was pulled into a hug by her. They were like Pepper’s. Warm and comforting.

 

“It’s okay, sweetheart. Ben was told that she died. We assumed it was during childbirth.” She explained. “Why don’t you come inside?” She offered and we accepted. Looking around, it was.. Nice. Homey. I liked it at least. “So… who's your friend?”

 

“Harry. Harry Osborn.” He extended his hand, which she shook.

 

“Bet Stark loves the fact you’re best friends with him.” She laughed.

 

“Neither of our parents have any idea we know each other.” I explained. Which she nodded in understanding. “I um.. There’s a lot to explain.”

 

“I bet. Why else would you be here with your dad’s rival’s kid.” She patted next to her on the couch. Harry took an arm chair but mostly stayed quiet. “Start from the top, kiddo. Ben is working right now, just us.”

 

So I did. The worry when dad was kidnapped. The relief when he was found. The annoyance and worry when he said I existed. Meeting Dr. Bruce Banner. The Spider. Meeting Harry for the first time. And now, the idea that dad might be dying. The signs. Leaving him, Pepper, Happy and Rhodey behind. She asked about the spider when I first mentioned it. Harry looked curious too, but didn’t say anything. I forgot he didn’t know. I explained at first, I was sick for a few days. When I woke up, I had lost my asthma. A few months later, I was sick again. My eyes were better. My hearing was better. All my senses had dialed up to 11. I explained that I could focus on things. Like heartbeats. And smells. Dad’s was irregular all the time. Pepper’s was steady, calm and soothing to listen to. About two weeks after that, I got sick again. I was able to stick to any surface, climb on walls. Walk on the ceiling. Another few weeks. Sick. I developed spinnerets on my wrists. I also was getting hungry more. My metabolism has increased. I noticed it was easier to build muscle. Or I at least think it is. 

 

After explaining everything. May was just happy I wanted to meet her and Ben. They didn't know who the dad was, but when Tony Stark announced a son, and a few days later announced a non-profit named Mary Stark Foundation. They knew. Mary never told them who the dad was. But they knew they weren’t married. They figured it out when the foundation was to raise money for cancer research. Mary’s field of expertise. When Ben came home, he hugged me. His hugs were strong, and comforting. I explained everything again. He found it both worrisome and intriguing. They gave me their numbers. Ben was a cop, and couldn’t answer all the time. He insisted he will answer when he gets the chance. May was a nurse, who said the same. After that, Harry and I walked back to Mrs. Osborn’s apartment. Where we stayed for the next few days. 

 

“Isn’t that Stark Expo here in Queens?” Harry asked suddenly.

 

“Yeah? Why?”

 

“We should go.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Well. I want to go. And maybe you can meet with your dad again?”

 

“I don’t-”

 

“Peter. You have to go back eventually.” He insisted.

 

“Fine. Let’s go tomorrow night.” I rolled my eyes. “You want to make your dad upset don’t you?”

 

“You caught me.” He laughed. “No, he’s busy tomorrow night. Leaving town. Mom’s going with him. I’ll just stick with you.”

 

“We should wear some disguises.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“I’m so glad you asked.” I smirked.

“I regret letting you choose the disguise.” He complained, muffled by the Iron Man Mask. He adjusted it a bit before deciding that it was fine. We had both put on masks and just stayed next to each other. We were waiting for the show to start. Apparently some idiot let Justin Hamer get a slot at the expo. And we wanted to see what terrible invention he had brought. Harry joked that it was gonna be the suit that was gonna cripple the person inside (again). Either way it was bound to go wrong somehow. We just didn’t know how yet.

 

His presentation was interesting, at least. What surprised me the most was that Uncle Rhodey had showed up in a newly outfitted suit. It wasn’t dad’s work that’s for sure. It looked… sloppy almost. Rushed, even. Odd. The drones noticeably had arc reactors. Which only one other person besides dad could make. Vanko. Great. This is gonna end badly isn’t it. I heard the roar of thrusters and looked up to see dad land on the stage. Which means he has the same idea. Vanko is up to something. “Harry?” I said hesitantly. Something didn’t seem right. But what?

 

“Peter?” He turned to look at me.

 

“We have to leave.” I said, grabbing his arm. “Quickly!” I insisted, he followed as quick as he could.

 

“Why are we leaving?”

 

“I just- I just got a bad feeling something is gonna happen.” I said as we got outside. 

 

“What? Why? How?”

 

“When I was- um- You know? I’ve started like- feeling danger or something? I don-” I was interrupted by the sounds of screams and gun fire. I turned to look at the pavilion. Where people were running out and the drones were shooting at people, along with chasing dad around. “C’mon hurry!” I said pulling him away further. When a drone spotted the two of us. We stopped and stared at it. I put my hand up with the fake gauntlet, and closed my eyes. When something landed behind us. Dad, I thought. I heard the repulsor charge up and a blast. I jumped a bit when I heard it shoot. I opened my eyes to see the drone blasted away.

 

“Nice work, kids.” Dad said before flying off again.

 

Harry grabbed my arm and started pulling me away. “C’mon lets get out of here!” He shouted as he led me away. 

I found myself back at May’s apartment. Harry and I had run all the way. May hugged us when she opened the door. She knew we were going to the expo, and was worried when she saw the drones start attacking. Emily had come over to grab Harry. I got May’s number, and Ben’s. Who I had yet to meet. Eventually I found myself back at the Malibu mansion. Jarvis greeted me as I entered. I noticed that the floor was.. More destroyed than I had remembered it being. Wires and things had been tossed down through the hole. I went down into the garage to find why, when I noticed the contraption. “Jarvis?”

 

“Yes, sir?”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“A prismatic accelerator. Your father used it to synthesize a new element to replace the palladium core in the ARC Reactor.”

 

“Palladium core?” I mumbled, before considering why he needed a new core, let alone the need to create a new element for it. “Why did he need to?”

 

“I don’t believe I am allowed to share such information with you at this time.”

 

“Well you don’t have to- um, speak it, just show me?”

 

“Very well.” He brought up screens. The many simulated trials of every known element to replace the Palladium used in the ARC. None came close to the necessary requirements. Then the reasoning. The palladium was poisoning him. That’s why he was drinking chlorophyll, in hopes of counteracting the poison. The prolonged use of the suit was killing him, speeding up the process. That’s the device he had been carrying with him as well. To measure his blood toxicity. Everything started clicking into place. He was dying. And he didn’t tell anyone?

 

“Jarvis?”

 

“Yes. sir?”

 

“Where did dad come up with the new element?”

 

“Your grandfather had left instructions to create it. The 1974 Stark Expo model was a blueprint.”

 

“What? How?” He brought up a holographic recording of dad messing with a projection of the expo.

 

“How many buildings are there?”

 

“Am I to include the Belgian waffle stands?”

 

“It was rhetorical, just show me.” He instructed. He spun it around before flipping it upward to be vertical. “Uh-huh. Um. What does that look like to you, Jarvis? Not unlike an atom. In which case the nucleus would be here.” He pointed at the Earth structure. “Highlight the unisphere.” it glowed, and he enlarged it. “Lose the foot paths. Get rid of ‘em.”

 

“What is it you are trying to achieve, sir?”

 

“I’md discovering- correction. I’m re-discovering a new element.” He explained before pondering for another moment. “Lose the landscaping, the shrubbery, the trees. Parking lots, exits, entrances.” He instructed, flicking everything away. “Strutcure the protons and the neutrons using the pavilions as a framework.” He waited for Jarvis to work his magic and when it was completed. He threw his arms up, being in the center of the projection. “Dead for almost 20 years, and still taking me to school.” He smiled, spinning around in his chair. Before chuckling and clapping his hands together.

 

“The proposed element should serve as an available replacement for palladium.”

 

“Thanks, Dad.”

 

“Unfortunately, It is impossible to synthesize.” That’s when the recording ended. “Your father then spent the next few hours building the prismatic accelerator. He successfully created the new element.”

 

“Show me the element?” I asked, and he projected the element that dad made from the Expo model. I pulled it toward me and looked at it. “What did dad call it?”

 

“He did not name it yet.”

 

“What’s the point of re-discovering a new element and not even naming it? Did my grandfather name it?”

 

“I believe Howard Stark was attempting to mimic something rather than create a brand new element.”

 

“Mimic? Mimic what?”

 

“The notes your father uploaded suggest he was attempting to mimic something called the Tesseract."

 

“What?” I said bewildered. In theory, a Tesseract is a 4-dimensional geometry shape. Something we can’t observe, being in the 3rd dimension. Of course, this isn’t exactly what the notes are referring to. “Bring up the notes.” I instructed. I started reading through them. The Tesseract was apparently an energy source. Found in the ocean searching for- Captain America. Steve Rogers. My grandfather believed him to be alive. Or it seemed, rather hoped he was. In the search of the ocean floor he found it. I brought it up to the surface and started studying it. Apparently during the war an organization called Hydra used it to power weapons. Howard wanted to use it to power the world. His partner, Anton Vanko wanted to use it to make weapons. Something this ‘Hydra’ would have done. So he had him deported, but listed the reasoning as “a way to get rich.” But his notes held the truth. I frowned. I was about to ask for more information when I heard a plate drop. I turned to see dad standing there, door to the garage open, Pepper behind him. He ran up to me and scooped me up in a hug. 

 

“I’m so sorry!” He cried as he squeezed me. “I’m so sorry! I was so worried about you!” He babbled on. Pepper came over and hugged me as well. She cried as she hugged us both. They were both crying and apologizing. I was trying to hold back my own tears, but was failing miserably. After we calmed down, dad asked: “Why did you leave?”

 

“Because- ‘Cause you started drinking again. You- you promised you wouldn’t” I explained between hiccups. Tony frowned, his face full of regret. 

 

“I’m sorry.” He apologized again. “I won’t touch another drop again. I mean it this time.” he promised, pulling me into another hug. I hoped he kept this promise this time.

Notes:

I hope you enjoyed!

The decision to introduce May, and having her know about the spider bite (along with Harry) was a fun one, at least I think so. Though Peter is probably gonna forget that fact and Harry is just gonna be like oh you're Spider-Man! and then peter is gonna be like how you'd figure it out and it'll be very funny.

Peter being the kid in the iron man mask at the expo fight is like so ingrained in my mind (Pretty sure that they said it was Peter Parker under the mask or at least retconned it so it is him.), I figured I would add a fun twist and have there be two this time, one being Peter, the other Harry. It was just, a good idea. I imagine Tony would land behind them and put both his arms up (cause Peter's Right and Harry's left arm was up) to blast the drone instead though.

Also Peter finding Howard's notes on the ARC reactor (and the Tesseract!) not to mention finding out Tony was dying and failed to tell him (any of them really) is mostly a spur of the moment decision. The movie wraps up after the Expo fight basically. Tony and Pepper start dating, Tony talks to Fury about Avengers Initiative, gets a medal of honor (I think? I'm gonna be honest I skipped that.) so, yeah I still had space to write. Not to mention Peter had to go back and it was a good way to have him distracted while they get home.

 

So, next chapter is another Interlude! It's shorter then the last one (I think) but it ends with it leading into the Avengers stuff. (And eventually the main inspo for the fic in the first place!) So keep an eye out! :D

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Peter Stark AU