~Iron Family~

Ah Yes, Those Vending Machines

Tony was having a tough time keeping it together.

Evil sure didn't--his mech was impossible to tear apart.

But while he fought all Tony could think about was Peter, Albrecht, and Happy--were his friends going to be okay?

After Evil had dealt that low blow of stabbing Spider-Man, Tony had lost his cool. He'd thrown himself at the guy, ripping the mech apart. Within seconds, all of the appliances had gone haywire. They danced around for a few minutes before completely shutting down.

"What happened?!" Evil cried, clawing at his controls like a maniac. Tony ripped him out of the mech and tossed him a few feet away.

"That was for Albrecht!" he snarled.

He sprinted over to where Albrecht had been tossed, not getting a second glance. His one-spotless labcoat was now stained with red, his eyes glazed and still.

"Albrecht!" Tony shouted, shaking him. "FRIDAY, get me vitals!"

"He is dead," FRIDAY said softly. "I'm sorry, Tony."

He'd only known the man for no longer than an hour, but Tony hung his head in sorrow. This man had a family...what would happen to them now?

Tony made a mistake by thinking the battle was over, though. He heard more guns coking and bullets started ricocheting off his suit. He turned, mildly annoyed from the bullets and furious about Albrecht.

"Don't! You! Hurt! Any! More! People!" Tony shouted as he knocked out the men one-by-one.

When at last they were all unconscious, he paused, panting heavily.

Happy.

He wasn't going to forget about him again--that was always too much of a mess when he got his feelings hurt.

"Happy!" Tony shouted, popping open his faceplate but staying inside his suit just in case. There were "dead" appliances littering the ground, enough to satisfy a hardware store.

He checked the bathroom, but it was empty. His heart started to pound in his chest--had Happy been kidnapped by a rouge refrigerator?!

He sprinted outside and ran into him.

"Jeez, Happy!" he panted. "You scared me! I thought you'd been kidnapped by a refrigerator!"

"What!" Happy gave his head a shake. "No! I'm fine. I just got some snacks from a vending machine. How 'bout you?"

Tony sighed, surveying the damage in the tower he'd caused, and just on the ground floor. He'd broken through a few of the higher ones.

"I think I'm going to have some hefty bills."

Happy snorted. "Well, that much was obvious. Maybe you can buy it back and we can--"

"No," Tony raised a finger. "You know how much I spent on Christmas presents this year? A lot. I'm not going to just up and buy a building just because I trashed it."

"But you did that before, with the Hulk."

"That was different!"

Happy pursed his lips. "If you say so."

Tony closed his faceplate, tilting his head at Happy. "You dare question me? Your boss?"

"Pepper's more my boss," he mumbled. Tony's hands both flew to his head.

"Ohmigosh, Pepper! I've gotta--I've gotta tell her about--FRIDAY, call Pepper!"

The line barely rang before Pepper answered it, sounding shaken.

"Tony? What's going on? Are you alright?"

"Calm down, Pep," Tony soothed. "Peter started back for the compound a few hours ago, he should be there by now or arriving shortly. I found Happy and Spider-Man being held hostage in the Stark Tower, but we got out and managed to take down those appliances that were causing trouble."

"Peter's not here!"

"What?!"

"Tony, I'm scared for him," Pepper was really upset now. "What if something's happened to him?"

"Okay, okay, honey, take a deep breath. I'm sure he's--"

"You'd better find him, Tony, I swear to--"

"Tony," Happy urgently shook his arm, suddenly looking terrified as if he'd remembered something. "Where's Spider-Man?!"

"Oh, right..." Tony'd forgotten about him. "Pep, I'm gonna have to call you back. I'm sure Peter's just fine, he's probably just taking a little slow. But I've got Spider-Man outside, he was really hurt. I need to take him to a hospital."

"Hurt?!" Happy choked. "Bruce! He can't go to a public hospital. Everyone'll know his identity then!"

Tony cussed after he hung up with Pepper.

"Okay. You're right... Let's go."

Oh, Peter, I hope you're okay. Just hang on for a little while longer.