Adopted ~ Iron-Dad § Spider-Son

She Died - 7

<Tony>

I woke up the next morning with a headache, and my side hurt. "Oh yeah, that f*cking dude kicked me in the side when I didn't have my suit on!" I exclaimed. I stood up and walked out into the kitchen.

I found everyone else was already awake. Bucky had come last night to help fight, and so had Thor. Sam also stayed over night last night.

Bucky, Steve, and Natasha were all sitting on the sofa. Clint was sitting on a different couch, with Peter sitting on his lap. Wanda was sitting on a stool at the island in the kitchen. Vision was currently making more coffee for someone else. Sam and Rhodey were talking in a corner, while Banner was studying Thor's every move.

"Morning." I mumbled.

"Good morning." Everyone else replied.

"So what happened yesterday?" I asked everyone.

"Well, we found that Jerry's daughter Jenny was dating a guy named Tanner. Jenny having problems with her father, access to his lab, and lots of underground land, gave Tanner an oppurtiny to make Jerry pay for destroying his business. So Tanner began doing experiments on human beings, so see if he could make himself superhuman without damaging himself." Natasha explained.

"Ah, I see." I replied. "Well too bad Tanner died. I'm not sure why Jerry made his lab explode, since that just made Jerry go to prison."

"Yeah, and his daughter too, for helping Tanner." Steve agreed.

"You beat the bad guys?" Peter asked me.

"Yeah, I beat the bad guys." I replied.

Suddenly, I got a phone call from the desk agent. "Hello?" I asked, even though I knew who it was.

"Hey, it's Jessica, I've got some news... about Peter. More about his Aunt than him..." Jessica began.

<Steve>

'It's my desk agent.' I saw Tony mouth to me. He answered his phone. "Hello?" I heard him ask. I watched as his smirk slowly faded into a grim look. I could tell this was not good news.

All the Avengers went silent, taking social cues from people around that Tony was not receiving a nice phone call. "Okay... bye." He said and hung up the phone.

He looked around at everyone, with a serious and grim face. "It's... it's May." He began. I instantly knew May was either hurt or....

"Is Aunt May okay?" Peter asked. I'm clearly not the only one who sensed the bad news in Tony's voice.

Tony's serious look settled on Peter, and I noticed his gaze went from grim to soft. "I..." His voice trailed off, still looking at him. "You're aunt... she's gone." He finally said.

Everyone was in shock of the news. Peter looked at Tony, confused. "No, she's just on vacation." Peter assured him. Tony's gaze went from soft to sad.

"Come on Peter, I need to explain something to you." I told the boy, knowing that Tony was grieving. He didn't need to suffer explaining what was happening to Peter.

I led Peter to his room, where no one else was around. 

"Peter, do you know what dying is?" I asked him.

"Aunt May said it's when a person leaves earth and goes to heaven." He told me. "People leave earth at different ages, but she says it all happens for a reason, and that they're happy."

I nodded, tears welling up, knowing this innocent child would soon be homeless. "Yes." I agreed with him. "That's what happened to Aunt May buddy. But she's still going to be with you, and watch over you." I assured him.

He nodded. He didn't seem phased. I don't think he quite understood what dying meant. "What do I do?" He asks me. "Who's gonna take care of me?"

"I'm not sure, but I know for a fact they're going to be wonderful." I told him. 

I walked out of Peter's room, going to check on Tony. He was sitting down on a chair in the kitchen, stared at the table in from of him. He was completely spaced out. "What happened to May?" I asked him gently.

"Plane crash. Just like Peter's parents." Stark told me. "I just... I don't understand. Now that I look at it, it seemed like she knew."

"What do you mean?" I asked Tony.

"She brought all his favorite books, toys, and even told me what temperature he liked the room at and what he needed if he goes to a new school. She also signed the new school up for me. It was like she knew Peter was going to stay for more than a month." He explained to me. "The way she avoided talking to me."

"She avoided you?" I questioned him.

"Well, she just dropped Peter off at the lobby, and alerted Jessica to call me. She left before I could even say hello." Tony told me.

"Auntie told me some deaths happen for a reason." We both turned and saw Peter holding onto his stuffed spider.

I looked back at Tony. "Do you think... there's a reason she died?" I questioned him.

"I just... I don't... I don't know." He admitted. "I'm just tired. We need to find a new home for Peter, fast." I nodded.