Protector (Peter Parker)

Disaster

Peter was still trying to find the guy who dropped him in the river over the next couple of days, but he didn't let Isabella know. She knew something was going on with him and that he was keeping something from her but she wasn't on assignment anymore so she kept her distance. 

One day while Isabella was sitting with Michelle and Ned at lunch Peter didn't show up. "Do you know where he is Ned?" Isabella asked as she took a bite of a baby carrot. Ned shook his head. 

"I saw him in chemistry but I haven't seen him since." Ned said as he focused on his food. 

Isabella's stomach twisted as she just nodded and continued on her sketch. It was the same one Peter saw, it was already graded but she wanted to make it perfect so she could give it to Peter as a thank you gift for being such a good friend to her.

The rest of lunch was almost silent, Isabella's anxiety growing when the bell rang and Peter still wasn't there. As she went through the rest of her day she tried texting Tony as well but Tony was out doing something. Probably something with Pepper. 

As the final bell rang Isabella almost ran out of the building to look for Peter. She tried to call Peter once more but it went straight to voicemail. Fighting the crowd to get to Happy's car her phone started to ring. Tony's face showed up on her screen. 

"Tony! Do you know where Peter is?" Isabella asked as she got in the car. 

"Come to the ferry, in your uniform. Meet me on the tallest building on by the station." Tony said and hung up. 

"I'm assuming you know where to go Happy. Please drive and don't look back here because I need to change." Isabella said as Happy started to drive. 

Isabella changed quickly and bit her lip. There was obviously something wrong or Tony wouldn't have called and been that short with her. 

When the car stopped Isabella leaped out of the car and ran towards the building Tony told her to go to. She ignored some of the looks she got as she ran. As she made it to the top she saw Peter with a dejected look on his face. 

Isabella ignored her burning lungs and sprinted towards Peter. "Oh my god I thought you were dead!" Isabella explained as she almost tackled Peter in a hug. 

Peter stumbled back, not expecting Isabella to be there. He wrapped his arms around her and sighed softly as Iron Man arrived. 

"Previously on Peter screws the pooch, I tell you to stay away from this. Instead you hack a multimillion-dollar suit so you could sneak around being my back doing the one thing I told you not to do. Isabella did you know about this?" Tony asked as they pulled away from each other and Isabella shook her head. 

"I told you, I'm not on assignment anymore. I don't know Spiderman's actions anymore." Isabella said and she could sense Tony rolled his eyes. 

"You had no idea that he took out his tracker?" Tony asked and Isabella faltered a little bit. 

"I um...I had some idea. Ned told me in D.C." Isabella said sheepishly. 

"You didn't think that was important information to tell me?" Tony yelled and Isabella winced a little. 

"I did and then I almost died!" Isabella yelled back. 

Tony paused and looked back to Peter. "Is everyone okay?" Peter whispered. 

"No thanks to you." Tony said and Peter looked up at him. 

"No thanks to me? Those weapons are out there and I tried to tell you but you didn't listen. If you cared you'd actually be here." Peter bravely said stepping closer to the suit. 

Tony walks out of the suit causing Peter to take two steps back. Isabella looked down, knowing both of them were going to be in big trouble. 

"I did listen. Who did you think called the FBI? I believed you, did you know everyone called me crazy for thinking a 14 year old could do this?" Tony asked. 

"I'm 15 actually." Peter said softly not meeting Tony's eyes. 

"No this is where you zip it. If someone was to die today that would've been on you. And if you died, I feel like that would've been on me. I don't need that on my conscience." Tony said and looked at Peter. 

"I'm sorry sir." Peter whispered. 

"Sorry doesn't cut it. It's not working out, I'm gonna need the suit back." Tony said causing both Isabella's head and Peter's head to whip up and look at him. 

"No Mr. Stark please. I'm nothing without the suit." Peter begged as tears formed in his eyes and Isabella's heart hurt for Peter. 

"If you're nothing without the suit you shouldn't have it." Tony said and Peter looked at him and nodded a little bit. 

"I don't have any other clothes." Peter said softly, not wanting to give up the suit but seeing there was no choice. 

"We'll sort that out." Tony said and pointed to Isabella. "When you get back tonight we're going to have a long discussion about what an assignment is and what that means. I'll be right back, don't move." Tony said and both of them nodded as Tony walked away. 

Isabella looked at Peter as he sat against the wall and put his head in his hands. She bit her lip gently as she sat next to him and gently rubbed his back. "It's going to be okay." Isabella whispered and Peter laughed a little bit. 

"This suit is half of what I can do. I can't go back to the homemade one." Peter said looking at her, tears falling down his face. 

"Peter, I was there when he made this suit. He made it to enhance your abilities, not to give you them. Are you Spiderman or is the suit Spiderman?" Isabella asked as Peter looked back at his feet. 

"I am." Peter whispered and Isabella nodded as she kept rubbing his back. "What am I going to tell May?" He whispered as fresh tears fell down his cheeks. 

"I can be there when you tell her if you want." Isabella offered and Peter shook his head. "Tell her you lost the internship. I know it hurts but you can be a normal teenager now. You don't have to do the patrols in the early hours of the morning anymore. You can still do patrols to keep people safe but you don't need to do them until sunrise. You can finally get back to normal, or as normal as you can be." Isabella said and Peter silently nodded as Tony came back with clothes in his hand. 

"Here you go Peter, go change and give the suit back when you're done." Tony said holding out the ratty clothes. 

Peter stood up and took the clothes out of Tony's hand. Isabella looked at Tony and sighed. 

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the tracker but in my defense I did almost die." Isabella said and Tony nodded. 

"I do agree with you on that, the tracker seems very small compared to the fact you almost died. Just keep focusing on school. When you're on assignment you don't get attached. You're not on assignment anymore but when you get your next one, remember that." Tony said as Peter came back with the suit in his hand. 

Peter gave Tony back the suit and gave Isabella a small smile before walking away and back home.