Do better, Mr. Stark.

14 - Saving Peter

Peter's day started off as normal as it gets (for a crime-fighting vigilante who also happens to be a highschooler). He made breakfast for May, hurried to school, got pushed around by Flash and started patrol.

What he didn't know, though, was how eventful patrol would turn out to be that day.

There was a bit of a boring stage after helping countless elderly people over the street and stopping one or two bicycle thefts. It seemed that for once, Queens was peaceful for a moment. Peter hated these moments. Not that he wanted anyone to be in danger or anything, of course he didn't! But Peter feels the constant need to be helpful in some way, he never truly rests in that sense. He knew the kind of power he was given and he was adamant to put it to good use.

As the crime-fighting spider was sitting on top of a random building in his neighborhood, swinging his legs left and right, Karen draws attention to herself. "Peter, there is a group of people attempting to rob a bank a few streets down.". Finally! "Thanks Karen, lead the way!". And so he moved towards danger.

***

To any uninformed by-stander, it would've looked ridiculous that every single Avenger (except for Thor, who had some off-worldly business to take care of) stormed a small warehouse somewhere in Queens. The threat couldn't have been THAT big, right? Well, they didn't know what was at stake. WHO was at stake.

It took a lot of convincing before Tony agreed to actually come up with a plan before relentlessly storming the place. That's what he wanted to do; he wanted to get his kid and punch a few guys in the process. As much as everyone agreed, they all knew that that has never been a great tactic. So they split up and followed Steve's instructions.

Natasha went in first. Through some kind of skylight (might have been a hole in the ceiling, it wasn't a particularly stable warehouse), she slowly but precicley landed behind the thugs. Her eyes immediately searched for Peter, and when she located him, she uttered a quiet sigh of relief. He didn't seem to be hurt, save for a few bruises. That's good.

The team went through with their plan and they had the four criminals handcuffed in no time - they weren't paticularly talented when it came to fighting back. They also seemed far too young to engage in kidnapping a national hero. Though this made everyone wonder how the hell they even managed to get Peter, there was no time to question him. No one would've been able to reach him anyways, Tony practically rolled over trying to get to his protogé and he sure as hell wouldn't allow anyone else to even breathe in his direction before he was sure of the fact that Peter was okay.

"Peter? Kid? Can you hear me? Are you okay?" he asked. Peter looked up at his mentor, perplexed as to how everything happened so fast. "Mr. Stark?". Whilst he still wasn't happy with the kid calling him Mr. Stark, Tony smiled. "Yeah, it's me. Now, are you alright? What the hell happened?"

„They aren't bad people, Mr. Stark. I didn't want to hurt them. Please don't hurt them". Before Tony could question what that meant, Peter continued. "And, uhm, I'm also kind of weak right now...". That's the last thing he said before he passed out in Tony's arms.

***

After that, everything happened quickly. Tony took off not a minute after Peter fainted - his goal being to get Peter, himself and Bruce to the med bay as soon as possible. He trusted Steve and the others enough to take care of the - now very nervous - kidnappers on their own.

Upon arrival, there was nothing he could do other than wait for Bruce to do his job. Well, it wasn't excactly his job, but he had a PHD in the field, so whatever. Tony had already called May and was now walking back and forth in the waiting room. After what felt like two hours, Bruce entered.

"What took you so long? He didn't have any injuries! What's wrong with him?". Bruce sighed. "Nothing's wrong with him, per sé. He has a few bruises, probably from fighting, but that's all there is superficially. His DNA is fascinationg by the way, he'll have to tell me how that happened!". Tony couldn't believe Bruce was geeking out right now. He just wanted to understand what happened to Peter. "I don't give a rat's ass about fascinating DNA right now, Banner. Why did he pass out? I just had a distraught aunt on the other line and we both want some answers."

"Peter shows clear signs of starvation, Tony.".