Finding Their Way Home

Chapter Fourteen

It was dead silent.

Peter was shocked still at the fact that his mask was gone. He wasn't prepared to have Natasha rip it away so when he felt the harsh lights hit him without his visor he knew that he has been de-masked.

"...P-Peter?" Tony said finally. "You're Spider-Man?"

Peter didn't know what to say. What was he supposed to say? They were never supposed to know! "I...I..."

"This whole time..." Tony said, mostly to himself at this point. "This whole time the person we've been hunting was my son?!"

"Tony---" Clint stepped forward but Tony whirled around to face him.

"No!" he cried. "What if we went with Natasha's plan? What if we hurt him?" he somehow paled even further and spun to scan Peter for injuries. "Are you hurt? Are you okay?"

"I'm...fine..." Peter said. His body was tense, taut like a wire. His skin was itching and he felt the need to be literally anywhere but here. "I'm not hurt or anything..."

"Good..." Tony said. He stared at Peter for a couple of seconds before realization struck. Suddenly his face was scrunched in fury. "What the hell were you thinking?! A vigilante? Are you insane?!"

"I..."

"What if you got hurt? Huh? Or killed!" Tony clenched his hands into fists to hide the fact that they were shaking. "You could get killed doing this kind of thing!"

"I'm careful--"

"Careful? Careful?!" Tony cried. "Careful is not doing this in the first place! Someone was trying to kill you, Peter! You almost died today!" Tony then paused, his eyes widening. He clutched his arc reactor with his hand as he collapsed into a chair next to the table. "...you almost died today...holy shit..."

"Tony? I know you're freaking out right now," Natasha said softly. "But I really think we should go back to the people who were chasing Peter."

"The people who were..." Tony trailed off before standing up once again. "You're right! Peter, you said you thought they were after you. Like, you, you. Why do you say that?"

Peter tensed. "I...I don't know...exactly," he said softly. "They looked almost... familiar."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Familiar? You've run into those men before?"

"No, nothing like that," Peter said. "I don't know who those men were. It was the symbol. On their shoulders? The octopus. I don't know why but... I swear I've seen it before."

"Seen it before? But that's impossible. Where could you have---" Tony stopped and Peter could practically feel the tension in the room spike.

"What? What is it?" he asked.

"Peter, this is very important," Tony said. "There is a two year gap that we can't account for. Between when you were taken and when you were found. Can you remember anything from that gap?"

Pain. Tears. Run. Run. Run.

"N-No." Peter said, his hands clenching the white paper on the table he was sitting on, making a guilty crackling noise. "I don't remember anything."

"I need you to think really, really hard," Tony said. "Anything at all."

Shouting. Red lights. Flashing. Cold. Run. Run. Run.