Let's Begin

Ch. 9

When the van finally did stop, the men weren't gentle with Peter. He was dragged out of the van and towards an abandoned building before he could get on his feet and while he attempted to stand up, the men continued tugging him forward. He tripped over his feet again and his knees scraped in the gravel thanks to his shorts. When he reached out to catch himself, his hands stung and gravel pierced his palms. He was pulled back to his feet and made to continue walking with gravel still covering his scrap hands and knees.

"Take him to his room," Mr. Patrick instructed, waving an arm down a hall.

Walking in the opposite direction, Mr. Patrick left while the three men took Peter down the dark hall. They came to a door and the man that wasn't holding onto Peter—who Peter had decided to call Blondie—unlocked the door. The two others, now deemed Scruffy and Giant for their appearances, shoved Peter into the room and the door slammed shut behind him.

Peter went crashing to the ground. His hands were still behind his back, but he managed to roll onto his back and stand up after coming face to face with the ground. With a slight limp, he walked over to the worn mattress in the corner of the room and sat on it, looking around the room.

There weren't any windows and the one light in the room was a single bulb hanging from the ceiling. Around the room, moss grew on the walls and a drainage hole sat in the centre of the room. Peter scrunched up his nose at the thought of that being his bathroom; especially once he saw the blinking red light directly across from him, signalling a camera in the room. Groaning, Peter flopped backwards onto the mattress. His wrists twisted and he grimaced, shifting to get more comfortable as he stared up at the dim ceiling.

"This must be the epitome of luxury," he muttered to himself.

* * * * *

The moment Tony dropped down in the back parking lot of Midtown Middle School, he knew something was wrong. According to FRIDAY, Peter should have been standing right in front of him. According to what Tony was seeing however, the only thing in front of him was a pigeon pecking on Peter's watch.

Waving the pigeon away, Tony picked it up and frowned when he saw it had been scratched. Peter never took the thing off (Tony was fairly certain his son had figured out there was a tracking mechanism in it) and took such good care of it. The fact the watch was scratched and on the ground, while Peter was nowhere in sight, made Tony uneasy.

"FRI, get me into the school's security camera footage," Tony said, collapsing his suit back into its bracelet.

While FRIDAY searched the security footage, Tony walked into the school through the back doors and headed straight for the principal's office. He saw a couple of students stare at him as he walked past, but the building was mostly empty. Only a few clubs ran as late as 4:30pm, so most of the students and teachers had gone home. Luckily for Tony, the principal wasn't one of them.

"Mr. Stark!" Principal Jones exclaimed, standing up from his desk to shake Tony's hand. Tony gave a firm shake then let go quickly, wanting to know exactly where his son was.

"Jones, I want to know why my son is missing," Tony said bluntly. Principal Jones blinked but Tony didn't give him long to think on it. "My wife got a call saying he's been missing since lunch. A call from his friend, not the school. I want to know where he is and why I wasn't told."

"I can assure you, Mr. Stark," Principal Jones began hastily, "that if your son is missing, we had no idea. We would have notified you immediately if we did."

That was not the answer Tony was hoping to hear, but Principal Jones only realised this after the fact.

"Did you not think it was suspicious when he didn't make any of his afternoon classes?" Tony asked. Principal Jones didn't respond, but FRIDAY did.

"The security cameras appear to have been shut off during lunch."

Tony frowned.

"By who?" he asked.

In front of him, Principal Jones tilted his head to one side, confused about who Tony was talking to but not wanting to ask.

"By a Mr. Leonard Hutch," FRIDAY reported, "Although he also goes by Leonard Patrick."

Principal Jones attempted to ask what Tony was talking about or to, but Tony waved him off as FRIDAY continued.

"Mr. Hutch has recently been released from prison along with three friends: Amos James, Henry Smyth, and Frank Teller. All four were associated with James Richie and imprisoned for 7 years after the attempted murder of Peter Stark."

"Run that by me again," Tony said slowly. FRIDAY did, but Tony didn't hear a word she said.

Peter was with people that had tried to kill him before. He was back with the men that had tried to kill him with James Richie. How had they found him? Okay, Tony decided, that part probably wasn't that hard.

Looking back up at Principal Jones, Tony told him sharply, "Jones, I'm gonna need your file on your employee Mr. Patrick."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark," Principal Jones said, "but those are confidential."

"Are you aware you hired a recently released felon?" Tony snapped. Principal Jones seemed just as surprised at the news as Tony expected. "That's what I thought. Now let me see the files and I'll be out of your hair."