The Devil With The Face of an Angel | Irondad, pepperony

Chapter 82

Tony paced in the living room impatiently, constantly watching the clock. Pepper and Peter were supposed to be here ten minutes ago. He sent her a message asking if everything was okay, but she hadn't answered yet. He was worried even though he tried not to be. They must have been stuck at traffic lights somewhere, he made sure himself. Or Peter was on the robotic club for a little longer. And now they're going home fast, but since Pepper is driving, she can't answer him. It's simple.

He slipped his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket, where he had a carefully hidden ring box. Today was supposed to be the day he asked Pepper to marry him. And even though he modestly thought he had a ninety-nine percent chance of saying yes, he was still as nervous as ever in his life. But it was probably normal. Everyone is nervous at such a big moment, right? It will be fine.

He was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. He immediately reached out for him and smiled with relief when he found Pepper was calling. They're probably downstairs. He answered the call quickly. "Hi, honey! I've already started to worry about where you've been for so long—"

"Tony, listen to me," she interrupted in a breathless voice, and Tony frowned. He wasn't liking this. "Our concerns about Mary were correct. I was able to find out something. Tony, we have to put that dinner down, I just need— "

"Pepper, slow down!" He tried to reassure her, though he wasn't any better. "Explain it to me. What exactly did you find out?"

"Please alert Nat. Peter may be in danger, we have to hurry for him if someone hasn't picked him up at school yet!"

"You didn't pick him up?"

"No, I asked Nat, I told her I had to get something done. Please, you have to call her and ask her if everything is okay! Did Peter write to you?"

"No, he didn't, and I'll call Natasha as soon as you explain what's going on."

Pepper took a deep breath. Her heart was pounding and she was worried. "We don't have much time, Tony, I won't have time to explain it all to you. I'm going to Mary. She's all to blame. She created a genetically modified spider that bit Peter while he was visiting Oscorp. She had been planning it since he was born, but by breaking up with you, she had to delay it. I don't know if it was a coincidence in Oscorp then or not. Anyway, the people the spider bit off didn't survive. Except for Peter. And she needs him. She wants to take him from us."

•••

"Damn it! Why don't any of them take the phone!" Nat growled in frustration, and if Bruce hadn't grabbed her arm, she would have hit the phone on the floor. They waited in front of the school for Peter to leave the building, but he still didn't go. His class was long over, he wasn't even at the robotic club. They agreed on a time when they would meet here, and twenty minutes had passed and he still wasn't here. Natasha tried to call Pepper and Tony if they hadn't picked him up already, but neither had taken a call. Peter was unavailable and Natasha was starting to get really worried. This didn't look good at all.

"You need to calm down, Nat. We'll work this out," Bruce tried to reassure her, but unfortunately, he certainly didn't know what to expect in this situation. Natasha smirked.

"I will try again. And if neither of them answers, I'll go look for Pepper and you'll go home if none of them are there. Please pick it up," she whispered to herself as she took a few steps further and redialed Pepper's number. She closed her eyes.

•••

"Don't tell me Richard gave you anything other than the serum intended for the boy," growled Mary, who was standing in a lab looking out of Peter's motionless body through the glass window. He was pale, drenched in sweat, and still unconscious, and although he didn't seem to wake up soon, she preferred to handcuff his arms and legs on a large table. "This was not planned. It was supposed to be completely different, it only brought us more complications! Do you have a bottle?" she barked at Quentin, who was watching the boy grimly. Her eyes flashed. "Do I see compassion, Quentin? Oh god, who did I hire? Give me the bottle so I can find out if it was poison or not!"

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised to hear that you have some poisons hidden here in various ways," Beck muttered, putting his hand in his pocket and handing Mary an empty bottle, only a few drops left at the bottom. The woman opened it and sniffed at it. "Couldn't it have mixed it with other ingredients that have nothing to do there?"

"Ginger, orange, and ginseng. Nothing wrong," Mary muttered, setting the bottle on the table and resting her hands on her chest. "I hope he soon understands that working with me is better. Otherwise, something ugly could happen to his loved ones, and he certainly wouldn't want that."

Quentin cleared his throat. "I thought you wanted to kill Potts. And I have the promised Stark."

"Of course, dear Quentin," Mary smiled ugly. "But you can't throw everything at him at once. First, we force him to cooperate and assure him that if he doesn't resist, everyone is fine. Gradually, however, we will start getting rid of them so that they can no longer hinder us, it would be similar to them, and Peter will not wait for it and it will break him. Zero resistance. I will be able to do whatever I want with him, and no one will stop me."

"Torment her own son like this, wow," Quentin said, earning an ugly look from Mary. "It should have been a compliment. And aren't you afraid it will turn out the other way than you plan? What if their deaths give Peter strength? Or what if he tries to commit suicide?"

"He will be under constant surveillance, Patrick is already preparing cameras. You still have a lot to learn, Quentin. Peter loves his family. It's his biggest weakness, as are Tony, Pepper, and the rest of their successful family. At least we don't have to worry about the Avengers anymore. That love will eventually destroy them all. And thanks to that, I can keep them all in check. Now they will jump the way I whistle. The game begins."