Chapter Text
“You’re Spiderman,” The leader repeated.
“No- no I’m not,” He stuttered. Crap. He was a terrible liar. “I’m not Spiderman.”
“You are. It all makes sense now. I knew there was something… I knew something was off about you,” The leader ran a hand through his hair as he finished putting the pieces together, “You’re enhanced, you just snapped those handcuffs like a twig. You showed up around Stark right at the same time Spiderman started teaming with him. We thought you were his kid but you’re… You’re Spiderman. ”
Okay, so not all of his captors were idiots.
The situation remained at a standstill, each party frozen as they calculated their next best move. The man who’d been trying to pull away Morgan was still unconscious on the floor, but there were three others ready to fight. After a few seconds, Peter made a choice.
In one swift move, he pulled Morgan onto his back and she wrapped her arms tightly around his collar. He hit the leader in the face, barely pulling his punch this time. The man flew backward into the hall outside the closet, and Peter rushed past the two remaining men. He heard them jump into action behind him as he raced up the stairs, spinning wildly at the top in search of the nearest exit.
He spotted the front door and ran for it. It was sealed shut with multiple different locks, and as soon as he started trying to undo the first one he knew he didn’t have time for this. Morgan tugged on his shirt as the footsteps drew closer to the top of the stairs. He was gonna have to break it down.
“I’m gonna have to put you down for just a second, Mo. Okay?”
Morgan nodded against his back and he slid her down to the ground, placing her safely to the side of the door. He backed up a few steps and charged the door.
His ribs and shoulder protested as they slammed into the hard wood, but it came off with one hit. He could see the blue sky outside. They were so close. They were so, so-
Bang.
For a horrifying moment, he thought they shot Morgan.
And then he felt it.
He collapsed to the ground with a scream as white-hot pain exploded in his leg. His vision whited out for a few seconds, but returned just in time for him to see one of the men rush forward and grab Morgan, who was desperately trying to claw her way to him.
“No!” She screamed, “Peter!”
He wanted to reassure her, tell her he was fine, but his mouth didn’t seem capable of forming any sound other than a pained groan.
He tried to breathe through it. They were taking Morgan back to the basement. he had to do something. He had to get up.
Come on, Spiderman. Get up.
With tremendous effort, he rose to his hands and knees.
“Stop,” He croaked out. The man scoffed.
“Or what?”
He staggered forward, tackling the man holding Morgan and knocking him unconscious as his head hit the floor. Peter grabbed Morgan and practically threw her at the door.
“Run!” He screamed, and she obeyed, darting out the door and to the left. He didn’t get a very good look at the outside, so he could only hope they were close to some kind of safe location with a phone.
The other man raced towards the door. Peter jumped off the floor, and, with everything he had left, punched the man in the face.
He was out in one hit, and Peter relaxed fractionally knowing that no one was actively chasing after Morgan. He collapsed to his side as the last of his energy, along with his blood supply, was drained from him.
The last thing he saw before passing out was the leader dazedly making his way to the top of the stairs.
Tony stared at the clock. Over four hours had passed since he’d received the first email, and yet the second one had never come.
What did that mean?
Maybe they escaped, He thought. Hoped.
“Tones?” Rhodey’s voice interrupted his silent prayer.
“Yep?” He sniffed, not meeting his eyes.
“You okay?”
“Fine, always,” He stated. They both knew he was lying. He’d had three panic attacks since the first video. His left arm was shaking, and his brain wouldn’t stop flashing with images of Peter doubled over in that chair, clearly in pain.
“I bet they got out,” Rhodey assured, “Peter’s such a smart kid. Strong. If anyone could get them out of this, it would be him.”
“It should be me,” Tony said harshly, “I’m their parent, I’m supposed to protect them. It’s my job, and I failed. It should be me.”
Silence filled to room. Rhodey stepped forward, squeezing Tony’s shoulder. He jumped up from his chair, suddenly too overwhelmed to sit down.
“I can’t- I can’t do this. I can’t do nothing. I need to get out there, I need to look, I need-”
“Everyone’s looking, Tones. You have a better chance of finding something from in here than you do just flying aimlessly around the city.” Rhodey reasoned. Tony knew he was right, but still, he hated it. It felt so… stationary. So quiet. Nothing about this situation should be quiet.
As if reading his mind, Tony’s phone rang.
The men’s gazes met, eyes full of a strange mixture of hope and dread.
Another second of stillness, and then Tony answered the phone, putting it on speaker.
“Hello?” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
“Daddy?” A small voice asked over the phone. Tony choked on his breath. Rhodey waved at FRIDAY to start tracking the call.
“Morgan, is that you baby? Where are you? Are you okay?”
Rhodey’s hand squeezed his shoulder again, eyes meeting his with a silent reminder.
Breathe.
“I’m okay,” She answered quietly. She sounded so scared.
“Where are you? Are you with the bad guys still?”
“N-No. I ran away. I’m at a gas station.”
Tony could have collapsed with relief right there.
“Okay, that’s good! You did so good honey,” He turned away from the phone, “Fri, alert the team, and tell Pepper we’ve got something,” he spoke back into the phone, “We’re gonna come get you okay? Where’s Peter? Can you put Peter on the phone?”
“No,” She whispered, “He’s still in the house,” she paused, letting out a whimper that broke Tony’s heart, “He’s hurt.”
His breath caught again.
“How? How is he hurt?” He asked, trying to sound calm.
“There was a really loud bang and he fell down. His leg was bleeding a lot.” She cried.
Both men froze, looking to each other in horror.
‘They shot him’ mouthed Tony incredulously. He could feel his breath speeding up again and he sat down hard in the chair. He shot Rhodey another look.
I can’t do this.
“Morgan? It’s Uncle Rhodey. It’s gonna be okay, okay? We tracked the phone and we’re coming to get you right now, and then we’ll get Peter. Both of you are gonna be just fine, Okay?”
“Okay,” she whimpered.
“Stay on the phone, okay? We’ll be there in just a few minutes.” He gestured to Tony, and both men began to suit up. Tony had FRIDAY connect the call to both of their suits, and they took off from the balcony.
Morgan’s scared breathing made it almost impossible to focus on flying.
“What did you do when you were in the city?” Tony asked, trying to distract her. She paused for a minute before answering
“We saw a fake Spiderman,” She said. The view around them changed as they made their way out of the city to a much less densely populated area.
“What?”
“There was a man in a spiderman suit on the street, and Petey said he bet he couldn’t even do a backflip, but I think he was just jealous ‘cause the fake one was taller than him.” She giggled a little. Tony barked out a laugh.
“Yeah, that’ll do it.” Rhodey chuckled.
“We’re almost there, Mo, okay? I’ll see you in just a minute.” He said as the gas station came into sight. The suits landed in the parking lot with a clunk.
He could see Morgan through the window.
He stumbled out of his suit and ran for her, and she did the same, dropping the phone.
“Daddy!” She called as she ran out the door and into his arms. He wrapped them around her as tight as he could, cradling her small head with his hand.
“Oh my god, Morgan.” He whispered, “It’s okay, you’re okay. You’re safe, I’ve got you.” He continued to mumble reassurances as his brain overloaded with relief.
She’s safe she’s safe she’s safe.
Peter’s not.
“Morgan, honey, I need you to tell me what direction the house was in,” he said.
“That way,” She hiccuped, pointing past Tony in the opposite direction of the gas station, “I had to walk for a really long time.”
“Okay, you did great sweetie, I’m so proud of you,” He soothed.
A roar in the distance alerted them to the quinjet approaching. It landed in the empty grass next to the gas station and the ramp opened up.
Pepper came out first, running to where Morgan and Tony were with tears in her eyes.
“Morgan,” She said as she wrapped her daughter in her arms, “It’s okay, I’m here.” She combed her fingers through Morgan’s hair, murmuring gently in her ear.
May came out next, scanning the scene before looking at Tony.
“Where’s Peter?”
“The bad guys still have him,” Sobbed Morgan. Pepper pulled her tighter and May’s face crumbled.
“I’m sorry, May. He got her out-”
“But not himself,” She finished. Tony nodded grimly.
“We need to go, now,” said Sam, who was standing with the remaining members of the team a few feet away.
“Rhodey and I will take the suits, you guys follow in the quinjet,” Tony said. May nodded determinedly.
“Go get our boy back.”
The house was a nightmare. Old and run down in the middle of nowhere, like something out of a horror movie. The first thing Tony noticed was that the front door had been broken off its hinges by someone on the inside. It was lying a few feet away from the frame, and his stomach turned as he noticed the multiple deadlocks.
Inside were two men unconscious on the floor next to a large pool of blood.
Peter’s blood.
Tony swallowed down vomit for what felt like the hundredth time in the last twenty-four hours.
The blood smeared along the floor to a doorway, as if something had been dragged through it, and Tony’s heart skipped a beat.
Was Peter behind that door?
While Rhodey apprehended the two unconscious men, Tony headed for the door. He opened it to find a staircase leading down into an even older and mustier basement. He crept as quietly as he could down the stairs, hoping not to alert the captors to his presence.
There was an open door to the left of the stairs, and Tony peered inside to find another unconscious man on the floor of what appeared to be a closet. The door had multiple deadlocks locking it from the outside.
This was where they’d kept Morgan and Peter
With a twisted sense of satisfaction, Tony shut the door, locking the man inside until Rhodey came to get him.
“Let’s see how he likes being locked in a dark closet,” He muttered under his breath.
He walked across the stairs to another door, this one closed.
“Friday, scan for heat signatures,” He murmured.
“None detected,” she responded. His heart sunk. With a deep breath, he opened the door, praying to every higher power he could think of that he wouldn’t find Peter’s body, cold and dead on the ground.
To his relief, the room was empty of people, dead or alive. There was a chair in the center of the room, across from a video camera on a tripod.
It was the room they filmed the ransom video in.
Tony stared at the chair for a moment, trying to blink away images of Peter handcuffed to it, crying out in pain. He tore his eyes away and stepped further into the room.
More of Peter’s blood smeared across the chair and dripped down the floor.
Please don’t let him bleed out in the back of a car somewhere.
His silent plea was interrupted as the door opened again. He swung around to find Rhodey standing in the doorway.
“Tony…” He trailed off, his grave expression telling Tony everything he needed to know.
“He’s not here,” Tony finished, swallowing down the rising terror in his chest. Rhodey nodded grimly.
“The others are already searching the surrounding area.”
A sharp pain flared up in Tony’s chest and he brought his hand to it. His mind flashed with images of Peter turning to dust before his eyes, and suddenly he wasn’t breathing.
“I can’t lose him,” He pleaded. The ‘ again’ at the end of that sentence was unspoken, but nonetheless understood.
“You got him back before,” Rhodey said, “You’ll do it again. You’re going to get him back, but to do that you have to breathe.”
Tony nodded, following Rhodey’s exaggerated breathing and willing his heart to stop pounding.
Rhodey was right. Tony had moved heaven and earth to bring his kid back before, and he would do the same now.
“Let’s go get my son.”
When Peter woke up, he was once again handcuffed. He was in a room he hadn’t seen before, and he could only hope they were still in the same house so that Morgan could lead Tony to him. He doubted his captor was that stupid. His upper leg was wrapped in gauze and appeared not to be bleeding profusely anymore, but still throbbed with pain. He tugged at the cuffs, but to his dismay, they didn’t snap like the other ones had.
“Vibranium,” Said a voice from behind him, causing him to jump. “Lucky our suppliers were able to provide them on such short notice.” The leader added as he crossed in front of Peter. Without warning, he pulled his fist back and punched Peter across the face. He cried out as he was hit hard enough to cause the chair to start tipping backward.
Apparently, the man had been pulling his punches before.
“I’m not a bad guy, you know,” The man started. Peter kind of had to disagree with him on that one. “All I wanted was to make some money. I get to be rich, you get to return safely to your loving family, it’s a win-win, really.”
Peter resisted the urge to roll his eyes, watching the man wearily.
“But then you just had to go and mess it up. You could have gone home. But now…” The man trailed off, leaning forward and grabbing hold of Peter’s jaw. “I’m making my money one way or the other. It’s a blessing in disguise, really, You’re going to get me three times as much as the little girl would’ve from Stark. Do have any idea how much some organizations, governments even, are willing to pay to get their hands on the Spiderman.”
Peter’s brain catches on one word of the sentence.
Would’ve.
He wasn’t getting any money for Morgan. That means she got out. He never found her. She was free.
He only got to enjoy that relief for a split second before the rest of that sentence caught up to him.
The man was going to sell him. Not for ransom, not as Peter Parker. The man was going to sell Spiderman.